More Ships from North Cross Lines

Three North Korean cargo ships intruded without permission into South Korean waters Monday in two separate incidents, as Pyongyang continued to probe the sea boundaries.

The unannounced cruises came a day after the South Korean government responded to the first in the series of trespasses by announcing that it would "positively consider" allowing North Korean vessels to pass through the Cheju Strait if permission was requested in advance.

In the latest incidents, the Daehongdan entered South Korean territorial waters in the Yellow Sea Monday afternoon, and two of the vessels involved in the weekend incident at Cheju, the Cheongjin 2 and the Baekmagang, crossed the Northern Limit Line Monday morning.

The government has sent a letter to Kim Yong-sun, chairman of Pyong-yang's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, expressing regret and saying that it would respond sternly to trespassing.

The Daehongdan, in communication with the South Korean sea patrol, said it would pass through the Cheju Strait and head toward Cheongjin harbor. It was being kept under tight surveillance by the South Korean navy.

In the morning, the Cheongjin 2 and the Baekmagang crossed the Northern Limit Line in the West (Yellow) and East (Japan) Seas, respectively, carefully watched by the South Korean navy. It marked the first time that a North Korean civilian vessel has crossed the line in the Yellow Sea since the signing of the armistice agreement between the two Koreas in 1953.

"We allowed the North Korean freighters to take a shortcut, in line with the spirit of the June 15 inter-Korean Joint Declaration, because they complied with our telecommunication search and did not show any antagonistic behavior," said a Defense Ministry official.

A high-ranking government official said that the National Security Council's decision Sunday to look into allowing North Korean vessels to cross the line after advance consultation was not a blanket permission. The ministry's will to maintain the line remains intact, he said.

The path traced by the North Korean vessels corresponds to the sea boundary proposed by the North Korean navy in March of last year. It thus could arouse dispute. The North had pushed for the revocation of the Northern Limit Line on the ground that it was unilaterally drawn by the U.S. military in 1953.

Analysts suggested that the South Korean government hoped, by responding mildly to the intruders and considering allowing North Korean vessels to pass through South Korean waters, to stimulate a possible resumption of inter-Korean dialogue, which is currently at a standstill. There are rising criticisms, however, that the government acceded too readily to the North's gambit.

by Lee Chul-hee