North Korea 'cuts sea' to China?

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying that North Korea has included part of South Korea's territorial waters near the maritime border between the two countries in an agreement to sell fishing rights to China in these waters.

“Part of our territorial waters has been sold by North Korea for fishing rights and Chinese ships are allowed to enter here to fish,” an unnamed South Korean military official said.

Chinese ships operating in the Yellow Sea.

“After learning of this information, we notified the Chinese side and asked them to be careful not to cross the Northern Limit Line (NLL) into South Korean territorial waters,” the official added.

Every year, North Korea receives payments from China to allow Chinese fishing boats to fish in the northern part of North Korean territorial waters in the Yellow Sea. However, this is the first time North Korea has “sold” South Korean waters to China.

The official added that the South Korean coast guard and military have increased vigilance and are ready to crack down on illegal fishing vessels that violate Seoul's territorial waters.

North Korea still allows its fishing boats to operate alongside Chinese ships in the above waters.

The NLL is the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas set by South Korea and the US, but North Korea does not recognize this border. Pyongyang has asked Seoul to redraw the maritime border, arguing that this is a demarcation line unilaterally drawn by the US after the 1950-1953 Korean War.

This is also a hot spot causing conflict between the two countries.

This "sea sale" is considered an effort by North Korea to attract more foreign currency as well as to invalidate the maritime demarcation line.

According to Vietnam.net