South Korea Asks North for Help in Search for Missing Sailor
Authorities in South Korea have asked for the North's help in searching for a sailor who went missing while on a patrol near the demarcation line. It is unusual for Seoul to ask for assistance from its belligerent neighbor, but a previous SAR case in 2020 ended in tragedy, and South Korean leaders are eager to prevent a recurrence.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, an enlisted sailor from a South Korean frigate went missing while the warship was operating about 25 nautical miles off the coast of Geojin-eup, in the Sea of Japan. The sailor was last seen at around 0000 hours on Sunday morning, and failed to report for duty at 0800.
The area is near the maritime boundary with North Korea, which extends northeastward from the Military Demarcation Line on shore (the MDL, the de facto border). The Sea of Japan (East Sea for South Korea) boundary region is not as conflict-prone as the disputed line in the Yellow Sea, where many skirmishes between the North and South have occurred over the years.
South Korea's Ministry of Unification said in a statement that it is possible that the missing sailor may have drifted across the boundary. "We hope that [North Korea], from a humanitarian perspective, will cooperate in finding and repatriating the missing person," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry's willingness to alert North Korean officials and ask for their help reflects lessons-learned from a previous incident. On September 21, 2020, fisheries officer Lee Dae-jun went missing while on patrol near the Yeonpyeong Islands, a disputed boundary zone in the Yellow Sea. South Korean naval and coast guard units began a search for Lee, without success: within about 12-15 hours, he had drifted into North Korean-controlled territory, immersed in the water but still alive.
On the afternoon of the 22nd, a North Korean patrol boat found Lee, but kept him in the water as a precautionary distancing measure (COVID-19 was an active concern at the time). After about six hours of interrogating Lee and discussing the appropriate response, the crew of the North Korean patrol vessel shot him in accordance with standing orders to enforce a strict COVID quarantine, then burned his body. Afterwards, North Korea's government expressed regret for the incident - a rare admission of fault - and said that it would take steps to prevent any recurrence.
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Two top-level South Korean officials, former national security advisor Suh Hoon and former Korea Coast Guard chief Kim Hong-hee, were later accused of distributing a false statement claiming that Lee had been attempting to defect to North Korea. Despite these early government claims, the Incheon Coast Guard station concluded in 2022 that it had "failed to find any evidence to believe that [Lee] had intended to defect to North Korea."
Both Suh and Kim were charged for allegedly distributing a false statement, then tried and acquitted. An appeals court turned down a request from prosecutors to reverse the acquittals last month.
