page_title: First Battle of Yeonpyeong
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: First Battle of Yeonpyeong / Prelude
context_page_description: The First Battle of Yeonpyeong took place between the navies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea on 15 June 1999, off the island of Yeonpyeong.
context_section_description: The battle occurred after North Korea began a sustained campaign to redraw the maritime boundary line – known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL) – between the two Koreas. On 6 June 1999, North Korea's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed that the "sea boundary line" had been violated by South Korean warships that had illegally trespassed in the North's territorial waters. 
  The following day, three North Korean patrol boats and thirteen fishing boats belonging to the North Korean Navy (KPN) crossed the NLL 5.6 nautical miles (10.4 km; 6.4 mi) off Yeonpyeong. The South Korean Navy (ROKN) responded by sending five fast boats and four patrol ships in a bid to prevent the North Koreans from crossing the NLL.
  On 8 June, seven North Korean patrol boats and seventeen fishing vessels repeatedly crossed the NLL between 05:55 and 23:20 local time. Twelve South Korean fast boats and four patrol ships were deployed and South Korean fishing boats were ordered to leave the area. The South Korean military issued a directive ordering a "bold response" to North Korean provocations, while stressing the need to uphold the rules of engagement.
  The first physical confrontation occurred on 9 June, when six North Korean patrol boats and five fishing boats crossed the NLL again. As on the previous day, the South Koreans deployed twelve patrol boats and four patrol ships. At 06:35, a North Korean patrol boat collided with a South Korean fast boat, causing minor damage. 
  The South Korean Ministry of National Defense issued a statement calling on the North Koreans to desist. Further clashes occurred the following day when South Korean fast boats confronted four North Korean patrol boats that were accompanying a group of twenty fishing boats. The South Korean government decided at this point to use force to oppose further crossings of the NLL.
  On 11 June, the South Korean Navy began forcibly responding to continued North Korean crossings of the NLL by beginning a "bumping offensive", using its boats to physically push aside the North Koreans. Four North Korean boats were damaged, two seriously, while three of the South Korean boats suffered damage to their hulls. The North Koreans retaliated on 12 June by attempting their own "bumping offensive" but were outmanoeuvred by the South Koreans. 
  The North Korean Navy deployed three torpedo boats the next day, prompting a deployment of two Pohang-class corvettes by the South Koreans on 14 June. By this time, the North Koreans' patrol boats had crossed the NLL 52 times and their fishing boats had crossed 62 times.
caption: The disputed maritime border between North and South Korea in the West Sea:[3]
         A:  United Nations Command-created Northern Limit Line, 1953[4]
         B:  North Korea-declared  "Inter-Korean MDL", 1999[5]  The locations of specific islands are reflected in the configuration of each maritime boundary, including 1–Yeonpyeong Island2–Baengnyeong Island3–Daecheong Island   Other map features4-Jung-gu (Incheon Intl. Airport), 5-Seoul, 6-Incheon, 7-Haeju, 8-Kaesong, 9-Ganghwa County, 10-Bukdo Myeon, 11-Deokjeokdo, 12-Jawol Myeon, 13-Yeongheung Myeon