evidence: The Northern Limit Line divides the maritime boundary between North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, hereafter DPRK) and South Korea (the Republic of Korea, hereafter ROK). Just as in inter-Korean relations more broadly, North Korea’s strategy to exploit strategic and legal ambiguity dominates the security, political, and even ecological morass in the maritime domain. North Korea exploits the legal ambiguities of the disputed border and takes advantage of the broader inherent dangers of maritime security. [...] The NLL was drawn a month after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in late July 1953. The agreement named five islands that would fall under South Korean control. These islands then formed the trajectory of the land-based Military Demarcation Line (MDL)—from which the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is measured—to sea. Some evidence suggests that UNC officials chose the line to keep South Korean civilian ships, especially fishing vessels, away from North Korean soil.[1]