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Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
I've always kind of been curious on this kind of thing... doesn't a country usually do a formal "declaration of war" on another? If you're sinking subs on the basis of "wartime conditions", is that not declaring war? Is the North sinking a boat not a formal declaration? I don't really get this part of war and the formality of it.
I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more press, yesterday I was out with friends and mentioned this happened and nobody had a clue...and really the only reason I knew was this site. Seems like this is something that could actually escalate since, you know, people literally died from what appears to be an organized attack.
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Shazam is correct, It was never a declared war in the traditional sense, it was deemed as a police action. In the end a cease fire was declared but a peace treaty was never ratified.
Naval law is a little more convoluted, most ships or fleets merely have to declare a maritime exclusion zone around their vessels which allows them to persecute targets within that declared sphere.
Usually you try to aggressively persecute potential threats within that exclusion zone and drive them out of it. American Aircraft carriers and battlegroups can declare and persecute for several hundred miles around them.
In the case of South Korea, they can set small exclusion zones around their destroyers and frigates and corvettes try to drive any targets to the surface, or if the targets become hostile or aggressive, they can try to kill it.
You don't need a declaration or war to protect a national asset.