Inter-Korean tensions still disrupt the operations of fishermen trying to earn a living in contested waters

By Gil Youn-hyung, staff reporter on Baengnyeong Island

From a northward-facing position atop Simcheong Tower on Baengnyeong Island, the westernmost point of South Korean territory, low hills rose over the waters around Jangsan Point on the North Korea side. There lay the Indangsu waters, where the Korean folklore heroine Simcheong is said to have drowned. These waters between the island and the point, stretching 16km as the crow flies, are bisected by the Northern Limit Line (NLL). To the south, South Korean fishing boats with gulls plied the waters. To the north were the shabbier wooden boats from the North Korean side.

It was on a wooden boat like those that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is reported to have traveled on Mar. 11 to visit Wolnae Island on a trip to rally troops there. On Mar. 24, that island off to the northeast seemed close enough to touch. So quiet was the scene that was almost impossible to believe that these are the disputed waters where North and South Korea are currently engaged in a hair-trigger standoff.

Baengnyeong Island was subdued that day as the country prepared for the third anniversary of the ROKS Cheonan sinking that took the lives of 46 South Korean Navy sailors. Residents were obviously annoyed with the yearly visit from flocking reporters. Responding to a question about “that day three years ago” at the Jang Village dock on Mar. 23, 38-year-old resident Jang Se-gwang said, “Go look it up on the internet. It’s all there. Don’t ask stupid questions.”

Jang is the captain of the Haedeok, a 6.67-ton coastal drift gill net boat, and the one who found the stern of the Cheonan after it broke in half and sank three years ago.

“The fishermen are suffering a lot because they can’t go out on the water while the military is doing its firing exercises,” he explained. “Plus there are too many reporters.”

For Baengnyeong fishermen, the big source of revenue is the sand lance, which they catch between late April and mid-June. One of them, who declined to give his name, fretted that sand lance season is set to start soon. “They’re 80% of the year’s earnings,” he said anxiously. The only trace of the Cheonan left on the island is the message on a banner hung there by the Marine Corps 6th Brigade and the Marine Corps Veterans’ Association. “We will never forget the sacrifice of the 46 sailors,” it reads.

Residents knew from experience that tourist visits would drop like a rock as inter-Korean relations worsened over the Cheonan incident. Kim Yang-im, an employee at the local travel agency Baengnyeong Tours, said many reservations had been cancelled since mid-February, when North Korea’s third nuclear test led to a resumption of antagonism between North and South. “It’s been a few years now, and it’s still crazy at this time of year,” she said. Many of the European-style pensions and live cafes that dot the island now lie shuttered. The Pado Singing Bar, Chowon Business Club, and Sangnok Tea Room, all located in the downtown area around the township office, are struggling with few customers.

Islanders are torn between hostility toward North Korea and hope peace on the other.

Byeon Hyeong-muk’s father came over the water to Baengnyeong from Changyon (in South Hwanghae province, North Korea) during the January 4 Retreat in 1951, with his older brother on his back. Byeon, a 54-year-old resident of Nampo No. 2 village, was snacking after a day of work in the ginseng field. Because the area was within commuting distance from Hwanghae province, many residents had family members on the other side of the water, and followed a North Korean style of living, he explained. “We called in two workers for ginseng farming, and they wouldn’t come because they said there was a war on,” Byeon said. “For us here, it’s all very peaceful, but everyone outside is making a big fuss.”

Next to Byeon was Choe Seong-jik, 69. “Look at North Korea,” he said. “If they get hurt, they retaliate, while we always just sit there and take it, like with the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island [the target of a November 2010 artillery attack by North Korea],” he said. “We need to show them what we’re made of.”

After that attack, no fewer than 26 shelters were set up on the island - everywhere that people congregate. There is one in front of Baengnyeong Elementary School, another in front of the Ongjin Motel in Jinchon village, another next to Sagot Beach (Natural Monument No. 391). The seventh shelter, next to the motel, measured about 660 square meters and came equipped with men’s and women’s rooms, a kitchen area, and air conditioning. When drills were held for all residents on March 13, they came in and ate military combat rations.

On the coast of Yeonhwa village is the Cheonan Memorial Rock. It looks down on the waters where the boat went down three years ago, but it bears no trace of the tragedy of that day. Had North and South Korea formed the special West Sea peace and cooperation zone agreed upon at their October 2007 summit, would there now be a steady stream of boats now heading from Incheon to Haeju? Would the tragedies of the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island have been avoided altogether? Peace looked farther away than ever on this island of conflict. Signs of hope were hard to come by.

　

　

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