韓國海洋安全：南中國海與北方分界線

Korea's Maritime Security: South China Sea and Northern Limit Line

從海洋安全角度視之，對南韓而言，最重要的海域包括南海，以及鄰近的西海（黃海）。一方面韓國有大量船舶通過並使用南海海域，加上中美在此區域衝突升高，致使處於夾縫中的南韓陷入某種困境。在鄰近水域中，南韓與中國在南海部分並不存在領土糾紛，在黃海則有與北韓之間的北方分界線對峙問題，尤其後者，兩韓既在此處存在緊張關係，實際上爆發過若干衝突，未來更充滿不確定性。目前，南韓首先於南海地區繼續堅持「自由航行」原則，但在北方分界線部分，則問題不僅是領土糾紛，還涉及與北韓之全面對抗，對此，南韓必須根據己身統一政策來加以處理。

In terms of maritime security, the seas that have more meaning to South Korea are the South China Sea and located more close to the country, the West Sea. A considerable amount of Korea's shipping volume passes through the South China Sea. This makes the US and China demand the position of Korean diplomacy as the US-China conflict in the region deepens which gives many dilemmas to Korean security. Among South Korea's neighboring waters, the South Sea has remained as a region with no territorial disputes following the agreement between Korea and China. In the West Sea, there are problems regarding the Northern Limit Line (NLL) between North and South Korea. There have already been several armed conflicts in this region and the volatility of inter-Korean problems raise tensions in the sea high making it unpredictable when and how conflicts will rise. In this sense, South Korea should keep its present stance of supporting freedom of navigation and promoting peaceful solution on the South China Sea conflict. The NLL controversy is not to be understood as a mere territorial dispute, but as part of the entire issues involving North Korea. Seoul should approach to this problem from its unification policy perspective.