Page 70 - 2020 Defence White Paper
P. 70

Establishing a Readiness Posture   In spite of agreeing to the issues related to
                            Against Land, Sea, and Airspace   the Northern Limit Line (NLL) through
                            infiltrations and Provocations   the Agreement on Reconciliation,
                                                             Non-aggression, and Exchanges and
                            Cooperation (1991) and the Protocol on the Implementation and Observance of
                            Chapter 2, Nonaggression (1992), North Korea has carried out provocations on land,
                            at sea, and in the air that nullifies the effectiveness of these agreements. Especially,
                            North Korea has continuously attempted high-intensity provocations in the northern
                            waters of the West Sea and the f ve northwest islands area. The f ve northwest islands
                            and the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which is the practical maritime boundary line,
                            have been defended robustly by the ROK Armed Forces, and the ROK Armed Forces
                            will continue to f rmly adhere to the principle of observing the NLL and will sternly
                            respond to any type of provocations against the NLL.
                             With the GOP scientific security systems established in 2016, considerable
                            progress has been made to the ROK Armed Forces’ security posture, and for any
                            shortfalls identified while operating the systems, the ROK Armed Forces will
                            continue to upgrade and improve the systems’ performance in the future thereby
                            further developing the ROK Armed Forces’ readiness posture against inf ltration and

                            provocations in an evolutionary manner.
                             The ROK Armed Forces will also establish a robust military readiness posture
                            through close ROK–US cooperation to deter provocations by North Korea and
                            to strongly and sternly retaliate in the event of a provocation. At the same time,
                            through the implementation of the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), the
                            ROK Armed Forces will provide military support to the various efforts of the ROK
                            government to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.
                             The ROK Armed Forces maintains a surveillance and immediate response posture
                            that covers the entire Korean peninsula in order to firmly defend the ROK’s entire
                            territorial land, waters, and airspace in the East Sea, West Sea, and South Sea,
                            including the northwest islands as well as Marado Island, Ulleungdo Island, and
                            Dokdo Island. In particular, the ROK Armed Forces maintains a firm commitment
                            and resolute readiness posture to safeguard Dokdo Island which is evidently the
                            ROK’s territory–historically, geographically, and according to international laws as
                            well.
                             To effectively respond to the changing operational environment, the ROK Armed
                            Forces will optimize its surveillance, decision-making, and strike systems in the
                            contact areas on land, at sea, and in the airspace, and continuously bolster its core
                            f ghting capabilities.




              2020 Defense White Paper
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