Korea War renewed?

Henry C.K. Liu hliu at mindspring.com
Tue Jun 15 06:42:32 PDT 1999


S. Korea Sinks N. Korean Ship

By Paul Shin

Associated Press Writer

Monday, June 14, 1999; 10:39 p.m. EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean warships sank a North Korean torpedo boat after an exchange of gunfire

Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, in an

escalation of their high-seas standoff.

``Our patrol boats fired 35mm guns and hit one'' of three

torpedo boats, Koo Bon-hak, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. ``The North Korean ship later sank. There is no word on casualties yet.''

Col. Hwang Dong-kyu, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of

Staff, said the three northern torpedo boats shot first and their fire was returned by at least some of the eight South Korean

ships during a 10-minute exchange in contested waters of the Yellow Sea.

The other two torpedo boats returned to North Korean

waters after the shooting, Hwang said.

One South Korean ship was hit by northern fire, but no

casualties were reported, Hwang said.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the

northern general ``lodged a strong protest ... against military provocations being committed by South Korean naval

vessels.''

P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said the Clinton administration was

monitoring the situation.

``There are military-to-military talks going on today to discuss this situation and we are in close touch with the South Korean

government regarding the steps they are taking in response,'' Crowley said.

The United States has about 37,000 troops in South Korea,

but there was no change in their alert status.

The shooting erupted only 40 minutes before generals of the American-led U.N. Command and North Korea sat down in

the border village of Panmunjom to discuss the tense military standoff, now in its eighth day.

North Korea agreed to the meeting after four of its patrol

boats were rammed and briefly repelled by South Korean

naval vessels in the first violent confrontation last Friday.

Two North Korean patrol boats moved back into the disputed waters shortly after daybreak Tuesday, escorting about 20

fishing boats, the Defense Ministry said.

They were later joined by three torpedo boats, which the

ministry said began the shooting. It said the exchange of

gunfire continued for about 10 minutes.

North Korean warships have been sailing in and out of the

disputed zone since June 8 in what appeared to be a move to guard northern fishing boats operating in the area. The zone is

a rich crab fishing ground.

The disputed waters lie midway between the North Korean

mainland and five South Korean islands, 60 miles northwest of Seoul. The zone is within the territorial waters -- 12

nautical miles -- of both sides.

North Korea has contested the sea border since the late

1970s, sending fishing boats and naval ships into the zone 20 to 30 times a year. But when challenged by South Korean

patrol boats, they usually have withdrawn quickly.

The armistice, signed by the U.N. Command and North

Korea, never outlined the maritime border off the Korean

peninsula's central western coast.

The U.N. Command unilaterally demarcated the sea frontier in 1953 and created a buffer zone south of it to avoid armed

clashes.

The standoff overshadows vice-ministerial talks between the two rival Korean states, to be held in Beijing on Monday to

discuss aid and reunions of separated families in the divided Korean Peninsula.

South Korean officials are concerned that the military tension could hurt the Beijing talks, the first government-level contact

between the two Koreas in 14 months.

The peninsula was divided into communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea in 1945. They are technically still at

war as the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Henry



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