Around 10:25 AM on June 29th, 2002, when the whole nation was wrapped up in the soccer craze of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, two North Korean patrol ship crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea between South and North Korea, and opened fired at a South Korean high-speed boat. The naval battle that lasted about 25 minutes that day was named in 2008 as the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong. This bloody confrontation left six South Korean sailors dead and many wounded. The violent engagement also killed and wounded more than 30 North Korean sailors and heavily damaged one of their patrol boats. The Northern Limit Line drawn as a part of the cease fire agreement in 1953 continues to be the cause of many clashes in the Yellow Sea. Until South and North Korea come to peace, South Korea has to protect the NLL with the same determination demonstrated by its Navy men during the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong.
