New Guidelines: Fire Unless Retreat

In the future, if the North Korea war ships breach the western NLL down into the South, our war ships can move in demonstration without announcing a warning in advance. If they do not retreat back into the North, we can fire warning shots. In addition, if they ignore the warning shots and keep moving southward, we can fire upon them.

On July 2, 2002, the Office of Joint Chief of Staff issued a new “guidelines for engagement” to all naval commanding offices. Under the new rules, the previous 5-step engagement protocol (i.e. Warning announcement -> demonstration maneuvering -> blocking maneuvering -> warning shot -> devastating firing) was cut down to that of three steps: Demonstration maneuvering -> warning shot -> devastating firing.

The new protocol also mandates simultaneous cooperative responses by the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, if the North shows any signs of breaking the NLL.

Ahn Ki-suk (Army, Brigadier General), the associate chief of joint staff, briefed, “The mandatory warning announcement and blocking maneuvering exposed our ships to the risk of surprise-attacks, since they had to move close to the enemy ships. The new guidelines eliminated the risk. Now we can secure advantageous space for defending and firing, thereby getting ready to blow up the enemy ships if they refuse to retreat.”

He added, “If necessary, we will deploy patrol boats with guns of long-range firing capacity, fighter jets with air-to-ship missiles and ground troops.

The new guidelines are contrary to President Kim Dae-jung’s “4 Rules of Engagement,” which was issued after the June Yonpyung Sea Battle in 1999, and different than the UN rules of engagement, which stands higher than the guidelines in commanding structure. Previously, under the two engagement rules, our ships focused on blocking maneuvering. They mainly practiced pushing our ships’ bodies against those of the North.

One top brass said, “The new guidelines allow initial firing including warning shots upon the unyielding enemy ships. Accordingly, the engagement rules may have to be revised.”

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com