N. Korean patrol boat crosses NLL in the West Sea

A North Korean patrol boat invaded the Northern Limit Line near Baekryeongdo in the West Sea on Saturday, despite repeated alerts by the South Korean army, and retreated after being fired warning shots. It is the first time a North Korean patrol boat has invaded the western maritime border since the Yoon administration was established.

Experts say North Korea, which has unilaterally cut off military communication lines with the Joint Inter-Korean Liaison Office, may have targeted raising tensions in the Northern Limit Line (NLL) following the recent launch of the Hwasong-18 solid fuel engine ICBM.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday, a North Korean patrol boat invaded the NLL around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday four to five kilometers northeast of Baengnyeong Island. South Korean PKM patrol issued alerts around 10 times to the North Korean patrol boat, but when it continued to invade the NLL, the South Korean army fired ten shots from 40mm machine guns as a warning. Military authorities said that the North Korean patrol boat retreated immediately after the warning shots were fired. Experts say that the patrol boat may have accidentally invaded the NLL while monitoring Chinese illegal fishing boats or may have intentionally crossed the NLL for provocation purposes.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com