[Editorial] Uninterrupted North’s Ships

A National Assembly inspection disclosed that North Korean vessels that passed through the Jeju Strait did not respond to the inspection requests of the Maritime Police made by radio 22 times this year. Although this is clearly a breach of the Marine Transportation Agreement between the two Koreas, the maritime police never stopped North Korean vessels for an inspection.

Rep. Song Young-sun of the Grand National Party (GNP) suggested on October 10 a possibility of North Korean vessel’s transporting nuclear materials, facilities and constructing materials for a nuclear test at the parliamentary inspection session. Song claims that 24 out of 114 North Korean vessels, which have passed through the Jeju Strait during the past one year, came in and out of Kimchaek Port, located close to the North’s nuclear site.

Although North Korean vessels passed the Jeju Strait several times after the nuclear test, the government has never checked what those ships were carrying. This is a serious problem as the Jeju Strait where North Korean commercial vessels has been allowed to pass through since August 2005 could become North Korea’s gateway for unlawful activities.

Moreover, this could trigger a new major dispute between South Korea and the United States, as South Korea’s participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is, at the moment, a point of contention. The government is trying to avoid participation in the PSI as they believe observing the Marine Transportation Agreement between the two Koreas is sufficient enough and the PSI may cause military conflicts between the two Koreas. However, the government will not be able to convince the U.S. and the international community of its refusal to participate in the PSI, if North Korean ships freely pass South Korea’s territorial waters without restrictions.

If we have allowed North Korean vessels to cross our territorial waters, at least we must keep a close eye on them. As our marine power is concentrated on the Northern Limit Line (NLL) of the East Sea and the West Sea and coastal defense, it is even more difficult to detect North Korea’s spy ships or submarines disguised as commercial vessels. So if we let North Korean vessels do whatever they please in our territorial waters, the problem will become much worse.

The international law also does not acknowledge the right of innocent passage for vessels like warships that have a possibility of conducting harmful activities. The government must thoroughly monitor and inspect North Korean vessels to make sure they do not carry weapons of mass destruction through our territorial waters and to obtain trust of the international community.