North and South Korea exchange shots.
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TV ClubHouse: archives: North and South Korea exchange shots.

Flint

Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:31 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Dunno how safe I am feeling after the latest in Korea-Korea relations.

S-N Korean Navy Ships Trade Fire; 4 Killed, One Missing

By Sohn Suk-joo
Staff Report

North Korean naval vessels intruded into South Korean waters in the West Sea yesterday morning and exchanged fire with South Korean patrol boats, leaving at least four South Korean seamen dead, 19 wounded and one missing, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

A 156-ton South Korean patrol boat with 27 servicemen aboard was hit in the steering room and sank after the 21-minute engagement in the West Sea, said Army Lt. Gen. Lee Sang-hee, chief of operations at the JCS.

It was the first naval clash since 1999 when a series of border violations by North Korean ships touched off the first and worst-ever clash since the Korean War (1950-1953). In that incident, one North Korean naval boat sank and three of its warships were severely damaged. At least 30 North Korean soldiers are believed to have died and 70 others were injured. Seven South Korean naval personnel were lightly wounded.

The latest incident came after a series of maritime border incursions by North Korean warships and fishing boats into South Korean territorial waters in the West Sea. On Friday, two North Korean patrol boats briefly crossed the border in the 10th such violation this year. North Korean fishing boats have entered South Korean territorial waters four times this year.

The maritime border between the two Koreas is not clearly marked. South Korea accuses North Korea of making 12 brief border violations in the western sea last year.

The four dead during this skirmish are Navy Lt. Yoon Yong-ha, commander of the sunk ship, and petty officers Cho Chong-hyong, Hwang To-hyon and So Hu-won, the Navy said after notifying their family of their deaths. Petty officer Han Sang-guk remains missing. Only three survived the clash unscathed. The dead and injured were sent by helicopter to Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Songnam, south of Seoul.

The two 215-ton North Korean naval ships returned to the North with one vessel emitting smoke as a result of return shots from a nearby South Korean naval vessel, Lee told reporters. It is not known how many North Korean casualties there were.

``A North Korean patrol boat opened fire first. One of our naval vessels sank while it was being towed after an exchange of fire,'' Lee said.

When asked about whether North Korea's violation of the maritime border was intentional, he said, ``The end results show that North Korean patrol warships crossed the sea border with a significant degree of intention.''

The North Korean warships ignored warnings to withdraw that were broadcast over loudspeakers on the South Korean boats, Lee said. ``The provocation is a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and we hereby strongly warn that all responsibility for this incident rests with the North Korean side,'' he added. But North Korea blamed South Korea for provoking an inter-Korean battle in the West Sea, officials said.

Following the clash, President Kim Dae-jung convened an emergency National Security Council meeting at 1:30 p.m.

In a statement of protest issued after the NSC meeting, Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin urged North Korea to apologize for the violation of the armistice and punish those who provoked the armed conflict. ``Our government makes a solemn protest against North Korea's provocative act. We urge North Korea to halt any type of provocative act, including invasion of the sea border''

The military was placed on high alert. A squadron of fighter jets was sent to patrol the sea border after the worst clash in three years. The Navy sent more warships to the West Sea in case of another attack from the North Koreans. One 1,200-ton battleship was deployed closer to the area.

But North Korea did not respond to a proposal for military talks with the United Nations Command (UNC) on the inter-Korean skirmish in the West Sea. The UNC, led by U.S. troops, sent a telephone message calling for general-level officers¡¯talks at the truce village of Panjumjom to be held at 6:00 p.m. over the clash between South and North Korean navy vessels, officials said. The message was sent by U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. James Soligan to his North Korean counterpart, Lt. Gen. Lee Chan-bok.

The clash occurred at 10:25 a.m. when two groups of South Korean navy vessels were dispatched to repel two North Korean warships that crossed the de-facto sea border or the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The maritime border, drawn by the United Nations after the Korean War (1950-53), lies midway between five of South Koreas western islands and the North Korean mainland. The border lies only 15 km to 30 km from the North Korean coast.

The North Korean boats intruded by up to 4.8 km south of the NLL at 9:54 a.m., said Brig. Gen. Hwang Eui-don, spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

After about half an hour of verbal exchange, one of the North Korean warships fired, hitting the steering room of one of the four South Korean vessels. The boat immediately caught fire in the engine room and sank while being towed away.

Three other South Korean warships returned fire in self-defense along with another two patrol boats and two bigger naval ships which had come to their aid. After the 21-minute clash, one North Korean warship was seen being towed away in flames across the maritime border, Hwang said.

ssj@koreatimes.co.kr

ÀԷ½ð£ 2002/06/29 20:30

Flint

Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
South Korea Vows to Decisively Deal With NK Attacks

By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea yesterday said that it would deal decisively with future armed provocations by North Korea, and demanded that Pyongyang apologize for its ``preemptive surprise attacks’’ and promise not to repeat them.

Presiding over the National Security Council (NSC) meeting held hours after four South Korean seamen were killed in an exchange of fire with North Korean patrol boats in the West Sea, President Kim Dae-jung was quoted by National Security Advisor Yim Sung-joon as saying, ``North Korea committed surprise attacks on our patrol boats in an apparent violation of the military armistice agreement.

The last time Kim held a NSC meeting was in October last year when the U.S. announced its war on terrorism in retaliation against the Step. 11 attacks.

``This unprovoked act is intended to raise tension on the Korean peninsula and should not be connived at,’’ Kim told senior security-related officials.

On hand were Prime Minister Lee Han-dong, Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin, National Intelligence Service Director Shin Kuhn, Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun and Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Choi Sung-hong. The one-hour-long NSC meeting began after a moment of silence was observed by participants.

Kim called on the armed forces to further enhance readiness so there would be no recurrence of this type of incident, National Security Advisor Yim said.

Lee Hoi-chang, presidential nominee of the Grand National Party (GNP), and other political leaders were given an in-depth briefing about the contents of the NSC meeting. Kim had called up Lee and talked about the situation.

Following the NSC meeting, the government decided to propose that a Military Armistice Commission (MAC) meeting be convened with the North in order to investigate the incident, and demand Pyongyang promise not to repeat similar provocations.

Defense Minister Kim issued a strong-worded statement of condemnation, while planning to take ``military’’ steps aimed to prevent this type of armed attack. Yim didn’t spell out what military steps Seoul would take.

President Kim has meanwhile sent presidential chief of staff Park Jie-won to an Army hospital to pass on his condolences to the families of those who were killed in the incident.

oh@koreatimes.co.kr

입력시간 2002/06/29 19:13

Flint

Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:34 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
NK’s Cannonade Sinks Sunshine Policy

By Oh Young-jin
Staff Reporter
The exchange of fire between South and North Korean naval vessels that killed at least four southern sailors in the West Sea yesterday is expected to put a damper President Kim Dae-jung can hardly afford on his Nobel Peace Prizing-winning ``Sunshine Policy’’ of engaging the Stalinist country.

The latest round of inter-Korean military confrontation came amid a series of auspicious signs that were creating hopes for the revival of Kim’s stalled inter-Korean rapprochement endeavor.

After one and a half years of vacillation, the Bush administration has just proposed the resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang, a move that was partially being pushed by a strong lobbying effort by Seoul to get Washington moving along once again.

As a matter of fact, Washington Friday said that it was ready to talk with the North in mid-July with a senior official to be dispatched to Pyongyang for a high-level consultation.

In addition, President Kim was in a better political shape than before, seeing the Korea-Japan World Cup finals coming to a successful end.

Repeatedly, Kim told the nation that the World Cup success was attributable to his Sunshine Policy, which he believed paved the way for the ongoing peaceful co-existence of the two rival Koreas on the Korean peninsula.

A senior presidential aide recently noted that ``a couple of rubber boats,’’ typically used by North Korean infiltrators, would have spoiled the World Cup.

In fact, immediately after he was told of the incident yesterday, Kim hosted a National Security Council meeting, the highest security-related decision-making council, and ordered the situation be dealt with sternly. His government issued a strong-worded statement condemning Pyongyang’s naval provocation.

More than anything else, the North’s cannonade shattered Kim’s strong belief in the wisdom of the Sunshine Policy.

This incident will also make it harder for Kim to persuade a skeptical nation to support his engagement policy toward Pyongyang, providing fodder for the opposition party to mount more attacks.

Some experts doubt if Kim will be able to continue Seoul’s humanitarian assistance to the North.

Lee Hoi-chang, the presidential nominee of the Grand National Party and a vocal critic of President Kim, has criticized him for being overgenerous toward the North, vowing to return to the stricter principle of reciprocity with Pyongyang, if he is elected head of state in the Dec. 19 elections.

Lee’s conservative ideology is popular with the Korean public, which is weary of the lack of bona fide gestures from the North in exchange for Seoul’s assistance.

President Kim has less than a year left in office, perhaps too short a time for him to repair the damage to the Sunshine Policy and rally public support behind it once again.

The incident yesterday took place three years after the June 1999 naval firefight in the same area. At that time, the South sustained few casualties in comparison with the many killed on the North’s side. President Kim shrugged it off and kept his policy on course.

However, the fact that this time southern sailors were killed is likely to adversely affect Kim’s efforts to revive his inter-Korean policy.

As things stand now, few would fail to understand the reason if President Kim heaved a sigh of despair.


oh@koreatimes.co.kr

입력시간 2002/06/29 17:05

Flint

Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Talk of the attack dominated yesterday, at least before the game started.

The consensus seems to be that the North was trying to rain on South Korea's World Cup parade. Unfortunately, North Korea has never needed a reason to act out like this in the past.

There hasn't been any talk of a full scale attack, but it does make people wonder. Except for derailing peace talks the attack serves no real purpose. The military has already been on alert for terrorist attacks, now they will be watching the border more intently too.

After South Korea and a lot of others defended North Korea when Bush declared it part of an axis of evil they do something like this. All they have really managed to do is kill some innocent people, and prove Bush right.

I was wondering how boring life would get after the World Cup. Hopefully the naval battle doesn't mean it will get too interesting.

Max

Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 05:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Flint,
Stay in touch with the Canadain Embassy in case they issue any travel warnings and stay safe, okay?

Flint

Monday, July 01, 2002 - 08:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks Max. I should register with them I suppose.

The big fear among Koreans right now is that Bush will use this as an excuse to do something to North Korea. ie an attack of some sort. Mind you, it would be hard to say Bush would be wrong considering how the North acts at times. He may not be able to get international, or more importantly Arab support to attack Iraq, he doesn't need it for NK.

Mind you I figured he would have done something within a couple of months of the axis of evil statement.

Wargod

Monday, July 01, 2002 - 08:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Flint, please stay safe! We kind of like you around here.