Northern ships may use strait: South Korea

Northern ships may use strait: South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea will allow North Korean commercial vessels to pass through Cheju Strait at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula if permission is requested prior to sailing, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

"The National Security Council has decided to let North Korean commercial ships to pass through the Cheju Strait if they give us information prior to sailing through Cheju," he said.

The unprecedented decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Sunday, a day after three North Korean bulk carriers sailed into South Korean waters in the strait, which separates the mainland from Cheju Island.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Monday it sent a letter to North Korea voicing displeasure over the incident and warning the South would resort to strong measures if such incursions continued without warning.

"We notified (North Korea) that we will resort to strong countermeasures if such unauthorized incursions happen again without notification," the ministry said in a statement.

A ministry spokesman declined to elaborate on what the strong measures would be, but said Seoul asked Pyongyang to sign a maritime treaty that would allow the passage of North Korean vessels through the strait.

Foreign commercial vessels have a right to sail in South Korean territorial waters without seeking prior permission, but because the two Koreas are still technically at war the strait has been closed to North Korea.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported on Sunday the three commercial vessels, carrying rice and salt, trespassed into South Korean territorial waters between 11:40 a.m. (9:40 a.m. Jakarta time) and midnight on Saturday.

Patrol boats were dispatched to escort the North Korean ships into international waters. "It's not supposed to be our call with commercial vessels under normal circumstances but because it is North Korea the military is involved," the spokesman said.

The intrusion by North Korea into the waterway was the first since the armed truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Local newspaper reports quoted military analysts as saying North Korea's intrusion was intended to demonstrate its right to pass through an international waterway.

The National Security Council decision will now allow for North Korean passage through the strait as long as certain requirements are met.

"North Korea must provide certain information before sailing in Cheju Strait -- when they are sailing, which ships will sail, where they are sailing to and what they are carrying," the ministry spokesman said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a letter advising of the change to North Korean authorities through the United Nations Command in Panmunjom earlier on Monday, he said.

The UN Command is the only contact point between the two Koreas, whose sealed border is the most heavily fortified in the world.

"We allowed the passage of the North Korean vessels through South Korean waters as a sign of respect for the June 15th Joint Communique signed by the leaders of the two Koreas," a Defense Ministry statement said on Monday.

The declaration followed a landmark summit between the two Korean leaders in Pyongyang last June 13-15. But a rapprochement in the heady months following the summit has stalled over North Korea's unhappiness with Washington's more aloof stance since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in January.

One of the North Korean vessels, the Chongjin No. 2, was headed to the North Korean port of Haeju on its way back from Japan, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Another, the Ryeongkunbong, was in transit from Japan to China and the third ship, the Baekmagang, was traveling from a western port to an eastern port of North Korea, he said.

Access to Cheju Strait would save North Korean ships 110 miles in travel distance or about 10 hours traveling time depending on speed, the spokesman said.