Two Koreas exchange fire

The navies of the two Koreas exchanged fire briefly Tuesday for the first time in seven years, along their disputed western sea border, damaging the ships of both sides and raising tensions as US President Barack Obama prepares to visit Asia next week and calibrate steps to deal with Pyongyang.

The skirmish apparently left one crew member dead and three injured among the North''s sailors, a Seoul military officer was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying. No South Korean casualties were reported in the incident.

A North Korean naval patrol boat that crossed the disputed sea border suffered serious damage and returned home "wrapped in flames," while a South Korean high-speed vessel pockmarked with 15 gunshots on the cabin suffered no other damage, Seoul''s military said in a statement.

While some analysts differ on whether the incident was an "intentional clash," others downplayed its impact on the upcoming direct talks between the US and North Korea.

According to a statement released by Seoul''s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North Korean patrol boat violated the Northern Limit Line (NLL) around 11:27 am local time, drawing warning shots from a South Korean Navy vessel, to which the North immediately responded.

Brigadier-General Lee Ki-sik of the JCS said the exchange of fire lasted about two minutes from a distance of about three kilometers. The North shot about 50 rounds and the South fired around 200.

North Korea disputed the South Korean account of the skirmish, however, claiming the South sent a "group of warships" across the border to attack its boat returning to port after a routine patrol, and demanded an apology from the South.

The "combat-ready" North Korean patrol boat "lost no time in dealing a prompt retaliatory blow at the provokers," the North Korean People''s Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Tuesday convened an emergency security meeting and ordered Defense Minister Kim Tae-young to "maintain tight security vigilance" and take measures to prevent the situation from worsening.

Kim was quoted by Yonhap as saying there is possibility that the North will seek revenge.

The two sides have yet to agree on their western sea border more than 50 years after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, when US-led UN forces unilaterally set a Yellow Sea border, namely the NLL, that the North refuses to recognize.

The disputed sea border was the scene of two bloody skirmishes in 1990 and 2002. The first saw nine South Korean sailors injured, while in the second, six were killed and 18 others were injured.

Recently revealed confidential reports show that the North suffered incomparably heavy damage in the battles, the Korea Herald reported Tuesday.

Source:Global Times

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