Editing Military Demarcation Line (section)

==Northern Limit Line==
[[File:Map of Korean maritime border.svg|thumb|350px|The disputed maritime [[border]] between North and South Korea in the [[Yellow Sea|West Sea]]:<ref name="ryoo13">Ryoo, Moo Bong. (2009). [http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA500904&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf "The Korean Armistice and the Islands,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221081755/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA500904&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |date=2013-02-21 }} p. 13 (at  [https://web.archive.org/web/20111112202918/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA500904&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf  PDF-p. 21] ). Strategy research project at the U.S. Army War College; retrieved 26 Nov 2010.</ref>

{{Color box|blue|border=darkgray}} {{color|blue|'''A:'''}} [[United Nations Command]]-created Northern Limit Line,  1953<ref name="reuters2010">[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AM2O820101123 "Factbox: What is the Korean Northern Limit Line?"] Reuters (UK). November 23, 2010; retrieved 26 Nov 2010.</ref><br />
{{Color box|red|border=darkgray}} {{color|red|'''B:'''}} North Korea-declared "Inter-Korean MDL", 1999<ref>Van Dyke, Jon ''et al.'' "The North/South Korea Boundary Dispute in the Yellow (West) Sea," ''Marine Policy'' 27 (2003), 143–58; note that "Inter-Korean MDL" is cited because it comes from an [http://www.law.hawaii.edu/sites/www.law.hawaii.edu/files/webFM/Faculty/N-SKoreaBoundary2003.pdf academic source] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309130908/http://www.law.hawaii.edu/sites/www.law.hawaii.edu/files/webFM/Faculty/N-SKoreaBoundary2003.pdf |date=2012-03-09 }} and the writers were particular enough to include in quotes as we present it. The broader point is that the maritime demarcation line here is NOT a formal extension of the Military Demarcation Line; compare [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/21/eng20021121_107188.shtml "NLL—Controversial Sea Border Between S.Korea, DPRK, "] ''People's Daily'' (PRC), November 21, 2002; retrieved 22 Dec 2010</ref><br />
The locations of specific islands are reflected in the configuration of each maritime boundary, including<br />
1. [[Yeonpyeong Island]]<br />
2. [[Baengnyeong Island]]<br />
3. [[Daecheong Island]]]]
{{Main|Northern Limit Line}}
{{Main|Korean maritime border incidents}}

Although the [[Korean Armistice Agreement]] specifies where the [[demarcation line]] and demilitarized zone are located on land, the agreement does not mention lines or zones in adjacent [[ocean|ocean waters]].<ref>Glionna, John M. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-06-la-fg-korea-sea-border-20110107-story.html  "Sea border a trigger for Korean peninsula tension,"] ''Los Angeles Times'' (US). January 6, 2011; retrieved 2011-07-28</ref> Shortly after the signing of the Armistice, a line in the sea was drawn unilaterally by the United Nations Command (UNC).<ref>Kim Young-koo. [https://www.judicialview.com/Law-Review/International/A-Maritime-Demarcation-Dispute-on-the-Yellow-Sea:-Republic-of-Korea/33/8809  "A Maritime Demarcation Dispute on the Yellow Sea: Republic of Korea,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713124732/https://www.judicialview.com/Law-Review/International/A-Maritime-Demarcation-Dispute-on-the-Yellow-Sea:-Republic-of-Korea/33/8809 |date=2011-07-13 }} ''Journal of East Asia and International Law'' (JEAIL), Volume 2, Number 2.</ref> This Northern Limit Line or North Limit Line (NLL) represented the northern limit of the area in which South Korea permits its vessels to navigate, not a demarcation line on which the two Koreas agreed.<ref name="hankeoreh">[http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/243031.html  "Modern meaning of Korea's maritime line,"] ''The Hankyoreh'' (ROK). October 15, 2007.</ref>  The Korean Armistice Agreement (KAA) provisions regarding the MDL and DMZ do not extend into the Yellow Sea or Sea of Japan.<ref>In principle, the UNC and DPRK ''could'' agree to extend the MDL into the Yellow Sea (IAW para. 62 of the KAA); however, there is no such agreement.</ref>

In 1999, North Korea unilaterally asserted its own "North Korean Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea (Yellow Sea)",<ref>Zou, Keyuan. (2005). {{Google books|34_T4TRmELQC|''Law of the Sea in East Asia: Issues and Prospects,'' |page=7}}; excerpt, "In response to the unilateral NLL, the North Korean authorities declared after the 1999 incident (on 2 September 1999), that they had set up a 'North Korean Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea (Yellow Sea)' which overlaps with the existing NLL"; Lee, Hy-Sang Lee. (2001). {{Google books|6Rx8Q_cxqvkC|''North Korea: a Strange Socialist Fortress,'' p. 191|page=191}}; [http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/11/south-korea-is-criminal-without.html  "South Korea is a criminal without principle." – Noth Korea &#91;sic&#93;] ''Sri Lanka Guardian,'' November 25, 2010.</ref> also called the "Inter-Korean MDL in the Yellow Sea".<ref name="peoplesdaily2010">[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/21/eng20021121_107188.shtml "NLL—Controversial Sea Border Between S.Korea, DPRK, "] ''People's Daily'' (PRC), 2002-11-21; retrieved 2010-11-26.</ref>

Nonetheless, the UNC-drawn line functions as a ''de facto'' or "practical" extension of the 1953 MDL, despite occasional incursions and clashes.<ref>Ryoo, p. 11; excerpt, "The NLL has served as an effective means of preventing military tension between North and South Korean military forces for 46 years. It serves as a practical demarcation line, which has contributed to the separation of forces." Aigner, Erin and Haeoun Park. [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/23/world/asia/1123-korea.html "Military Strike in the Waters Between North and South Korea,"] ''New York Times.'' November 23, 2010; Williams, David and Peter Simpson. retrieved 22 Dec 2010.</ref>