SEOUL -- As a result of the latest North-South naval clash on the West Sea, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" is now in shambles. But it need not have been so. Even before the defense ministers of the two Koreas sat down almost two years ago in Cheju following the 2000 Pyongyang summit -- to discuss the relinking of the severed rail line across the demilitarized zone, or DMZ -- procedures to prevent repeated naval clashes in the West Sea should have topped their agenda. In retrospect, this was an ominous omission.

The Northern Limit Line, or NLL, was drawn at the conclusion of the Korean War almost 50 years ago as a seaward extension of the military demarcation line that runs the length of the 4-km-wide DMZ separating North and South Korea. (Ironically, this was created as a military control line to prevent southern incursions into the North. South Korean President Syngman Rhee refused to sign the armistice agreement and, although he had agreed to abide by it, the United States was taking no chances.)

It has been controversial ever since, in part because it was unilaterally declared by the U.N. Command, or UNC, and in part because it has been increasingly viewed by the North as an infringement on its sovereignty and legitimate access to the sea under international law. In effect, the existence of the NLL is the unstated reason for continued clashes at sea. Moreover, the fact that it is not mentioned in the text of the armistice agreement itself makes its status under international law even more contentious. Here, issues of both international politics as well as international law are at stake.