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South Korea's former defense ministers, military brass and war veterans, gathered in downtown Seoul on Wednesday, lambasted "left-leaning" President Roh Moo-hyun for undermining the legitimacy of the maritime border, called the Northern Limit Line.
In an apparent bid to boost cross-border projects under this month's inter-Korean summit agreement, Roh described the sea border as a "one-sided" military division and "not a territorial boundary," questioning whether the NLL is considered a legal boundary between the two Koreas.
"The NLL was originally drawn as the operational limit line for our military. So some people now call it a territorial line. But that is misleading," Roh told the press last week. "We should admit it was not a (border) line agreed upon by the two Koreas," Roh said, echoing a long-standing claim by the North seeking to redraw its maritime border.
In a furious response, the former defense chiefs, top brass, war veterans and some 700 conservative civic activists staged a rally in Seoul, urging Roh to retract his comments and offer a public apology.
"It is shocking and deplorable that the president made such inappropriate remarks," they said in a statement, noting that Roh's remarks called into question his qualifications as the commander-in-chief of the military.
The poorly marked western sea border has been a constant source of armed conflicts between the two Koreas. The U.N.-imposed line has served as a neutral zone to avoid possible armed clashes since the end of the Korean War. After decades of keeping mum, however, North Korea declared the line invalid in 1999, saying that it did not recognize the border and insisting on its own sea border far south of the NLL, to include lucrative blue crab beds in its territorial waters.
The territorial sovereignty contest triggered an armed clash in 1999 and again in 2002 when the two Koreas traded naval gunfire which left dozens of casualties on both sides. Tensions have risen sharply in the border waters during the May-June and October-November crab seasons, when North Korean fishing boats often move south in search of crab beds, backed by patrol boats.
"What President Roh said was disrespectful to the soldiers who died defending the NLL," the protestors said, referring to the deadly naval skirmishes. "We urge President Roh to clarify whether there was any secret deal with the North's (leader) Kim Jong-Il on the matter during the summit," they added.
During the summit on Oct. 2-4, Roh and Kim agreed to create a joint fishing area and a wider peace zone around the contested waters. Part of the deals focused on massive investment in the North.
But the conservative protestors demanded the agreement be scrapped, expressing fear that it would only bolster the North's demand for a redrawing of the borderline. "The North's proposal of the peace zone is a tactic designed to nullify the NLL," the statement said.
The main opposition Grand National Party joined the criticism, slamming Roh for "sympathizing" with Pyongyang after the summit, which they said was arranged to give Roh a diplomatic achievement before he leaves office early next month.
Citing a military report, the conservative party said the North has intensified its efforts to nullify the borderline, sending its patrol and fishing boats into the South's waters. In the report to the National Assembly, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North has violated the western sea border as many as 135 times since 2001. The intrusions have been on a rise, with 21 reported in the first nine months this year, compared with 21 in the whole of last year and 14 in 2005, according to the report.
Even after the inter-Korean summit this month, the North violated the borderline twice on Oct. 5 and Oct. 14. Rep. Maeng Hyung-kyu of the GNP said the North's repeated intrusions were aimed at testing the South's readiness and nullifying the NLL.
"Roh's remarks threaten national security," said Park Yong-ok, senior vice president of the Hallym Institute of Advanced International Studies and former vice defense minister. "For Now, the NLL is non-negotiable. We can naturally review the problem once peace has settled," he said.
