Naval clash heightens tensions between North and South Korea

The navies of North and South Korea exchanged fire in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday in an incident that left a Northern vessel badly damaged. The clash comes just ahead of a trip to Asia this week by US President Barack Obama.

AFP - A North Korean patrol boat was badly damaged as the navies of North and South Korea exchanged fire on Tuesday, officials said, heightening tensions in one of the world's most sensitive military flashpoints.

North Korea told South Korea to apologise for a "grave armed provocation" after the incident, Pyongyang's official media reported. "The South Korean military authorities should make an apology to the North side for the armed provocation and take a responsible measure against the recurrence of the similar provocation," the North's military supreme command said.
  

The clash near the disputed sea border off the peninsula's west coast -- the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002 -- came eight days before US President Barack Obama was due to visit South Korea as part of an Asian tour.
   
The South Korean military blamed the North for the incident.
   
A North Korean patrol boat crossed the border and sailed south for about 0.7 miles (1.1 kilometres), Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
   
It said a South Korean high-speed naval boat sent several warning signals but the North's craft held its course.
   
After the South's boat fired warning shots, "the North's side opened fire, directly aiming at our ship. Then our ship responded by firing back, forcing the North Korean boat to return to the north," the statement said.
   
"There were no casualties on our side. We are on the lookout for any further provocations by the North."
   
A JCS spokesman told AFP the North's boat was damaged by cannon fire.
   
"It wasn't a close-range battle. We fired heavily on the North Korean vessel," an unidentified navy official told Yonhap news agency.
   
"It is our initial assessment that the North Korean boat suffered considerable damage."
   

South Korea's YTN television quoted military sources as saying the North's boat crossed the border while trying to stop illegal fishing by Chinese boats in the rich crab-fishing grounds.
   
It said the JCS was in urgent session to determine whether the border crossing was a deliberate provocation.
   
The border known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL) has always been a potential flashpoint.
   
The North's navy last month accused South Korea of sending warships across the line to stir tensions, and said the "reckless military provocations" could trigger armed clashes.
   
The NLL was drawn up unilaterally by United Nations forces at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The North has never recognised it and wants it drawn further to the south.
   
The clash, which occurred at 11.28 am (0228 GMT) near Daechong island, came amid peace feelers from the communist state after months of hostility marked by missile test-launches and a nuclear test.
   
The North has since August put out peace feelers both to South Korea and the United States.
   
It freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operations of a joint industrial estate, sent envoys for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak and allowed a family reunion programme to resume.
   
The North has also invited US special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang for talks on ending the standoff about its nuclear weapons programme. Washington was expected to decide soon to go ahead with the trip.
   
Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor at Dongguk University, said he thought it likely the incident was an intentional provocation from the North because the boat ignored warnings from the South.
   
"This might be an intentional clash aimed at heightening tension ahead of Obama's trip," Kim told YTN.
   
"I believe North Korea is trying to show Obama the volatility of the peninsula. North Korea has demanded a peace pact be signed with the US to replace the truce agreement (which ended the 1950-53 war)."

Date created : 2009-11-10