List of border incidents involving North and South Korea

Korean border incidents
Part of the Cold War (until 1991) and the Korean conflict
Date 1953–present Location Korean DMZ & the Northern Limit Line Result ongoing
Belligerents
North Korea  Russia	South Korea  United States

The following is a list of border incidents involving North and South Korea since the Korean Armistice Agreement of July 27, 1953, ended large scale military action of the Korean War. Most of these incidents took place near either the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) or the Northern Limit Line (NLL). This list includes engagements on land, air, and sea, but does not include alleged incursions and terrorist incidents that occurred away from the border. A total of 3,693 armed North Korean agents have infiltrated into South Korea between 1954 and 1992, with 20% of these occurring between 1967 and 1968.^[1]

Many of the incidents occurring at sea are due to border disputes. In 1977 North Korea claimed an Exclusive Economic Zone over a large area south of the disputed western maritime border, the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea.^[2] This is a prime fishing area, particularly for crabs, and clashes commonly occur, which have been dubbed the "Crab Wars".^[3] As of January 2011, North Korea had violated the armistice 221 times, including 26 military attacks.^[4]

There were also incursions into North Korea. In 1976, in now-declassified meeting minutes, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense William Clements told Henry Kissinger that there had been 200 raids or incursions into North Korea from the south, though not by the U.S. military.^[5] Details of only a few of these incursions have become public, including raids by South Korean forces in 1967 that had sabotaged about 50 North Korean facilities.^[6]