S. Korean, N. Korean Navies Exchange Fire

Navy Ships Trade Fire along Disputed Western Sea Border; First Clash in 7 Years

(AP)  Updated at 3:46 p.m. EST

A badly damaged North Korean patrol ship retreated in flames Tuesday after a skirmish with a South Korean naval vessel along their disputed western coast, South Korean officials said.

The first naval clash between the two sides in seven years broke out just a week before President Barack Obama is due to visit Seoul, raising suspicions the North's communist regime is trying to ratchet up tensions to gain a negotiating advantage.

There were no South Korean casualties, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. South Korea's YTN television reported that one North Korean officer was killed and three other sailors were wounded, citing an unidentified government source. The JCS said it could not confirm the YTN report.

Each side blamed the other for violating the sea border.

The exchange of fire occurred as U.S. officials said Obama has decided to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for rare direct talks on the communist country's nuclear weapons program. No date has been set, but the talks would be the first one-on-one negotiations since Obama took office in January.

"It was an intentional provocation by North Korea to draw attention ahead of Obama's trip," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Seoul's Myongji University.

He also said the North was sending a message to Mr. Obama that it wants to replace the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 with a permanent peace treaty while keeping its nuclear weapons.

Washington has consistently said that Pyongyang must abandon its nuclear arsenal for any peace treaty to be concluded. North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear tests since 2006 and is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen atomic weapons.

Traveling with Mr. Obama on Air Force One, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters the administration was aware of the clash and urged restraint on the part of North Korea.

"I would say to the North Koreans that we hope that there will be no further actions in the Yellow Sea that can be seen as an escalation," he said, referring to the body of water where the shooting took place, which Koreans in both North and South call the West Sea.

"We are sternly protesting to North Korea and urging it to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents," South Korean Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik told reporters in Seoul.

North Korea's military issued a statement blaming South Korea for the "grave armed provocation," saying its ships had crossed into North Korean territory.

The North claimed that a group of South Korean warships opened fire but fled after the North Korean patrol boat dealt "a prompt retaliatory blow." The statement, carried on the official Korean Central News Agency, said the South should apologize.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting, ordered the South's defense minister to strengthen military readiness.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that a North Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border about 11:27 a.m., drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel. The North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters, the statement said.

The clash occurred near the South Korean-held island of Daecheong, about 120 nautical miles off the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, the statement said.

The North Korean ship was seriously damaged in the skirmish, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. Prime Minister Chung Un-chan told lawmakers the ship was on fire when it fled north.

Lee, the rear admiral, said the shooting lasted for about two minutes, during which the North Korean ship fired about 50 rounds at the South Korean vessel, about two miles away. He said the South Korean ship was lightly damaged.

He said several Chinese fishing boats were operating in the area at the time of clash, but they were undamaged. Chung, the prime minister, described the clash as "accidental," telling lawmakers that two North Korean ships had crossed into South Korean waters in an attempt to clamp down on Chinese fishing.

Lee, however, said the South Korean military was investigating if the North's alleged violation was deliberate.

The Koreas regularly accuse each other of straying into their respective territories. South Korea's military said that North Korean ships have already violated the sea border 22 times this year.

The two sides fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002.

No South Koreans were killed in 1999, but six South Korean sailors died in 2002, according to the South Korean navy. It said exact North Korean causalities remain unclear.

Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea expert at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said Tuesday's clash would not have a big impact on inter-Korean relations.

He said the Koreas held a landmark summit in 2000 and the North sent a cheering squad to the South for the Asian Games in 2002. Both events took place after the separate clashes in 1999 and 2002.

Baek, like fellow analyst Shin, said that North Korea caused the incident but that Pyongyang appears to want to create tensions and use them for domestic political consumption.

The two Koreas have yet to agree on their sea border more than 50 years after the end of their 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty. Instead, they rely on a line that the then-commander of U.N. forces, which fought for the South, drew unilaterally at the end of the conflict.

North Korea last month accused South Korean warships of broaching its territory in waters off the west coast and warned of a clash in the zone, which is a rich crab fishing area.

The latest conflict comes after North Korea has reached out to Seoul and Washington following months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket in April and carried out its second underground nuclear test in May. But it subsequently released South Korean and U.S. detainees, agreed to resume joint projects with South Korea and offered direct talks with Washington.

Two administration officials said Monday in Washington that Obama has decided, after months of deliberation, to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for direct talks on nuclear issues.

Mr. Obama will send envoy Stephen Bosworth, although no date for his trip has been set, the officials said. The officials discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been publicly announced.

Separately, a senior Obama administration official said Tuesday that Bosworth's trip would not happen while Mr. Obama was traveling in Asia. The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement, said the trip would probably happen next month.

Hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops on both sides face across the 155-mile-long land border that is also strewn with land mines and tank traps and laced with barbed wire. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter a potential North Korean aggression.

[breadline1]

north korea, like iran should just be terminated.

[mjlewis6]

His Most Heroic Leader of the DRK can make a lasting peace with the United States by signing a peace treaty, remove his armed forces from the border and resume trade as well as keep his nuclear stockpile with one proviso: keep the nuclear materials under camera security and insure their storage in carboard suitcases under the Sung bed every night. We will have peace in almost no time.

[duffyn]

Anyone who says it's alll bush's fault is certainly NOT a joke. Let's take a moment and remember bush and his right wing repugant congress were in control for 8 long gross years. Him and his crew were perfect right wingers, they built up and engaged the militarey industrial, they lowered taxes for the rich (even though we had to borrow money to do it), they moved money from middle class on down to the already rich and big corps, they helped destroy the middle class by embracing outsourcing (moving our jobs from here to other countries). And, finally, they left America deeply in debt so we can't really help out all the Americans he left broke and without health ins.

[PaGuy1960]

How do you idiots blame Bush for this? Is that he only option you have is blame him for everything? We;ve been in korea for 50 + years. Are you so obsessed with the Bushes? You must dream about them.. It's hysterical.

[Empire-George]

by bubbadubba November 10, 2009 12:03 PM EST

MacArthur was nothing.
___________

This tells you where this commie is coming from.

[bubbadubba]

<<<The greatest General this country ever produced, 5 star general Douglas MacArthur, wanted to kick the reds aiss's back into Manchuria in 1951 where they belonged.>>>

And is directly responsible for China entering the war and the US almost losing because of it. You need to read some military history.
MacArthur was nothing. He put up weak defenses in WW2 and then ran away leaving Americans to die or be captured as the Japanese almost won the war.
It makes me sick when I see that video of MacArthur walking out of the water to the Philippine beach with his sunglasses and pipe "I have returned". What a joke.
Patton was a General, MacArthur was nothing.

[mejordelahistoria]

patton? old blood and guts?......... the reason why they called him that was because he forgot that he sent thousands of american paratroopers to jump behind german lines in italy and forgot to tell the navy, in return, the navy thought they were german planes and shot a lot of them down killing hundreds of americans. All so Patton could beat Montgomery to the glory........ good old american stupidity at its best.

[ibsteve2u]

And the moral of the story is that arrogance leads to unnecessary casualties.

lolll...which is one of the reasons the right is unfit to lead.

[bubbadubba]

Alright South Korea, way to go!
Sent the North Korean ship limping home in flames.
Don't mess with South Korea.
Just a taste of what would happen if North Korea was ever stupid enough to start a war with the South.

[Virgil-1]

North Korea loves to rattle the sword.Loves to make big powers tremble.

[hungry1968-17]

by thgdriver November 10, 2009 10:56 AM EST
This whole Korean mess can be laid right at the feet of the Dimwitocrats and Harry S. Truman. The greatest General this country ever produced, 5 star general Douglas MacArthur, wanted to kick the reds aiss's back into Manchuria in 1951 where they belonged. Truman fired him, and instead we have had to station 30,000 American troops there since 1953. The amount of money that has cost us is Staggering not to mention the world teetering on WW3 ever since. Now we have the socialist Nobama in charge, God help us all!!







We've been teetering on the verge of WWIII because of North Korea for 56+ years?!?!


ROFLMAO!!!!


Where do you neo cons get your history from?!?!

[Ms_enza]

Faux News and Drug Limpwrist...

[hungry1968-17]

by unbanable November 10, 2009 9:57 AM EST
"Quit being such a coward. North Korea doesn't represent ANY kind of threat to us."

Superstarzchef is 100% accurate in his statements. North Korea is not the message. North Korea is just the messenger. NK is China's pawn. Consider it the big toe of China. They keep pushing the big toe over the line to try and get america to stomp on it. Why do you think america has not attacked NK?







We haven't attacked North Korea, because North Korea hasn't done ANYTHING to provoke an attack from us!!

Shouldn't you have an ACTUAL REASON to go to war with someone, or have you neo cons completely lost your mind?!?!


China has no more control over North Korea, than we do over England or Australia.

Influence? Yes.

Control? Not even close.