The meaning of its name is "white wing island", since the island resembles a flying ibis with its wings spread.[4]
Given its proximity to North Korea, it has served as a base for intelligence activity by South Korea.[citation needed] Numerous North Korean defectors have also boated here to escape economic and political conditions in their homeland. In the recent past there have been several naval skirmishes between the two countries in the area, and Kim Jong-Un threatened on 11 March 2013 to wipe it out.[5]
Baengnyeong Island is the westernmost point of South Korea. Travel time by boat to the island from Incheon is about four hours.[6]
Changsan Cape in Ryongyon, North Korea, can be seen from Baengnyeong on clear days.
Environment
The area is also rich in oceanic fauna and bird diversity. The Chinese egret, which is considered to be one of the fifty rarest birds in the world, can be found here. The area hosts a nature reserve for spotted seals,[7] and they can be observed on the rocks and beaches.[6] Seals occasionally attract predators such as the great white shark into the area.[8][9]Finless porpoisees in adjacent waters are also curious and playful.[10] The Incheon Coast Guard has been investigating illegal whaling targeting minke whales in the area.[11][12][13]
Climate
Climate data for Baengnyeongdo (2001–2020 normals, extremes 2000–present)
Owing to the geographical location, Christianity went through Baengnyeong Island ahead of other Korean regions. After the Gabo Reform, Kim Seong-jin was exiled to this island, and the first church in Korea was established in 1896.[citation needed] There are ten churches on the island at the present time.[when?]
The disputed maritime border between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea:[17] A:United Nations Command-created Northern Limit Line, 1953[18] B: North Korea-declared "Inter-Korean MDL", 1999[19] The locations of specific islands are reflected in the configuration of each maritime boundary, including
During the Korean War, the USAF designated the airfield on Paengyong-do as K-53.
The island was defended by the West Coast Island Defense Task Unit composed of men of the 2d Korean Marine Corps Regiment under the direction of US Marines.[20]
On August 16, 1950, a Lockheed P2V-3 Neptune of the US Navy (122940) was ditched 9.7 km (6.1 miles) W of here after being hit by AAA fire and catching fire while attacking an enemy vessel near Chinnampo. All 9 occupants survived and were rescued by HMS Kenya. Following this incident, all patrol aircraft were excluded from attack missions in Korea.[21]
In April 1951 Paengyong-do was used as a staging base for a mission to recover wreckage of a downed Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 near the Chongchon River. On 17 April 1951 a USAF Sikorsky H-19 carried a US/South Korean team to the crash site and they photographed the wreck and removed the turbine blades, combustion chamber, exhaust pipe and horizontal stabilizer. The overloaded helicopter then flew the team and samples back to Paengyong-do where they were transferred onto an SA-16 and flown south for evaluation.[22]
The USAF established a communications interception site on the island in mid-1951 which was used to intercept Chinese military communications.[23]
In December 1951 two Sikorsky H-5s of the USAF 3d Air Rescue Squadron were based on the island and would forward deploy daily to Chodo Airport to operate search and rescue missions before being permanently deployed to Chodo in January 1952. The H-5s were later replaced by the more capable Sikorsky H-19, two of which were based at Chodo and one on Paengyong-do.[24]
On 12 November 1952 several aircraft, believed to be Po-2s, bombed the base in a night attack causing minimal damage.[25]
In January 2010, an artillery duel between South Korean ships and North Korean land artillery occurred near Baengnyeong.[26][27]
The South Korean naval vessel ROKS Cheonan sank near the island on 26 March 2010. The 1,200-ton vessel broke in two pieces, with nearly half the crew dying (mainly in the stern section) and a little more than half surviving (mainly in the bow section). A multinational investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo struck the ship[28] although this conclusion has been challenged by others.[29]
References
^Yŏnʼguwŏn, Hanʼguk Kukpang (1999). "Defense white paper". Ministry of National Defense, Republic of Korea. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Van Dyke, Jon et al. "The North/South Korea Boundary Dispute in the Yellow (West) Sea," Marine Policy 27 (2003), 143-158; note that "Inter-Korean MDL" is cited because it comes from an academic sourceArchived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine and the writers were particular enough to include in quotes as we present it. The broader point is that the maritime demarcation line here is NOT a formal extension of the Military Demarcation Line; compare "NLL—Controversial Sea Border Between S.Korea, DPRK, "People's Daily (PRC), November 21, 2002; retrieved 22 Dec 2010
^Smith, Charles. U.S. Marines in the Korean War. Government Printing Office. p. 569. ISBN9780160872518.
^Werrell, Kenneth (2005). Sabres over MiG Alley: the F-86 and the battle for air superiority in Korea. Naval Institute Press. pp. 95–6. ISBN9781591149330.
