Lawmaker releases map showing Roh’s proposed North-South joint fishing area

Posted on : 2013-07-15 15:00 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Ruling party lawmakers still claiming that former president offered to abandon the NLL
 discussed during Roh’s 2007 inter-Korean summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
discussed during Roh’s 2007 inter-Korean summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

By Song Ho-jin and Kim Nam-il, staff reporters

A Democratic Party lawmaker has released a copy of a map that he claimed former President Roh Moo-hyun gave to North Korea at a 2007 inter-Korean summit to propose a joint fishing area, with the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West (Yellow) Sea remaining in place.

Another outcry against the false claims made by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and ruling Saenuri Party (NFP) is now predicted. Both the NIS and Saenuri lawmaker Chung Moon-hun had supplied very different conceptual diagrams for the fishing area that showed Roh attempting to abandon the NLL.

 at the National Assembly in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood
at the National Assembly in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood

Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Ho-jung organized a July 14 press conference at the National Assembly, where he released both a location map for the “West Sea special peace and cooperation zone” proposed by Roh at the inter-Korean summit in Oct. 2007, as well as an “equal area map” of the fisheries proposed by South Korea during an inter-Korean defense ministers’ summit held the following month as a follow-up measure.

Yun said he had obtained the copies from a senior figure in the Roh administration.

Based on the content of the maps, Roh appears to have proposed four joint fishing areas, with the NLL used as a standard demarcation line. South Korean fishermen would have been able to fish as far up as the West Sea coast up to the Changsan-got (cape), which is on the North Korean side.

A map presented at the defense ministers’ meeting by then-defense minister Kim Jang-soo (current chief of national security at the Blue House) also specified an equal area plan, with equal-sized areas made available for South Korean fishermen to fish waters north of the NLL and for North Korean fisherman to fish south of it.

A Roh-era Blue House staffer explained on condition of anonymity that Kim “reported at a meeting just before the defense ministers’ meeting that he would be sticking to the plan for joint fishing areas in four equal-sized areas on both sides of the NLL, and Roh signed off on it.”

 July 14. (by Kim Jeong-hyo
July 14. (by Kim Jeong-hyo

But the NIS included different data in its own conceptual diagram of the fishing area released with a July 10 spokesperson’s statement. At the time, the agency claimed that during the 2007 summit meeting, Roh wanted to accept Pyongyang’s request that the entire area between the NLL and a West Sea maritime military demarcation line below it claimed by North Korea be designated as a joint fishing zone. According to the NIS, Roh indicated that he was abandoning the NLL when he answered “okay” to a proposal by then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Saenuri lawmaker Chung put forth a similar argument.

According to Yun, Roh’s “okay” was “nothing more than the sort of reply you normally make in a conversation.”

“President Roh and his administration consistent called for an inter-Korean joint fishing zone using the NLL as a standard at the summit meeting, as well as defense ministers’ and generals’ meetings afterwards,” he continued. “It actually supports North Korea’s claim and aids the enemy for the NIS and Representative Chung to spread falsehoods and make it appear as though [Roh] abandoned the NLL.”

Yun added that it was “time to end this wasteful political debate over the NLL, time for President Park Geun-hye to apologize for the disgraceful behavior of the NIS and dismiss Nam Jae-joon [the organization’s director].

"And if the National Assembly finds the map from the summit while reading the transcripts, Chung Moon-hun should give up his seat."

But Yoon Sang-hyun, senior deputy floor leader for the Saenuri Party, said the summit transcripts "don’t include a single word about ‘equal distance’ or ‘equal area.’"

"They may have set up the game plan [of equal distance and area before the summit], but what do you do when the athlete gets out on the field and starts acting crazy?" he continued. "It was an abnormal summit, one where the game plan, the coach, and the athlete were all on different pages."

When asked for an opinion on Yun’s revelation, the NIS replied that "nothing had changed" from the position in its recent spokesperson’s statement.

 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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