INSIDE JoongAng Daily

INSIDE JoongAng Daily:
Politics Anger up over sea line dispute


The Defense Ministry wants the Unification Ministry to stop discussing the sea border in the Yellow Sea that has stood between the two Koreas for over half a century. “In light of the upcoming inter-Korean summit, it is not desirable that the Defense Ministry and Unification Ministry should show signs of friction,” said Kim Hyung-gi, the Defense Ministry’s spokesman, yesterday. “The debate [on the sea border] should stop.” There has been tension between the two ministries ever since Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung’s recent comment that the Northern Limit Line, the border drawn at the end of the Korean War to separate the two countries in the Yellow Sea, is not considered “territory.” Lee also said the South needed to “reconsider” the reason that a 2002 sea battle was fought after a North Korean patrol boat crossed the line into South Korean waters. Sources said that Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo on Tuesday told the National Assembly’s Defense Committee that the military would “not give up the Northern Limit Line.” Hong Ik-pyo, a policy adviser to the unification minister, said yesterday that he “could not agree that even a slight change in the Northern Limit Line would cause a Hong Ik-pyo, a policy adviser to the unification minister, said yesterday that he “could not agree that even a slight change in the Northern Limit Line would cause a serious threat to national security.”
He posted his comments on a message board of the Government Information Agency, arguing that there was nothing wrong with discussing the matter with the North."

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