Koreas Trade Blame In Gunboat Clash

North Korea refused to apologize Sunday for a sea skirmish in which four South Korean sailors died, saying the maritime border where the clash took place was illegal and should be abolished.

The South Korean military said North Korea suffered about 30 casualties in the fight Saturday, though independent confirmation was not possible. Without elaborating, North Korea has said there were losses.

The western sea border was calm Sunday, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung traveled to Japan to watch the World Cup soccer final and meet Japanese leaders. He was expected to return to Seoul on Tuesday.

"The government will take necessary steps so the people can engage in their business without concerns," said Kim, who has urged his military to be more vigilant.

The fight broke out after two Northern patrol vessels accompanying fishing boats crossed the sea border and one opened fire after ignoring warnings to retreat, South Korean officials said. North Korea, however, accused Southern boats of provoking the battle by entering communist territory.

The dispute centers on the Northern Limit Line, a maritime border that was drawn up by the U.S.-led U.N. Command to avert possible clashes after the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea never accepted the line, and Southern officials say communist boats have repeatedly violated the border over the years.

The sea border is "a bogus line unilaterally and illegally drawn by (the South Korean military) in the 1950s and our side, therefore, has never recognized it," KCNA, the North's news agency, quoted a North Korean naval official as saying.

North Korea wants the sea border to be moved further south, which would allow it access to rich crab and fishing waters.

North Korea reiterated its demand that the sea border be abolished in a letter Sunday to the U.N. Command, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The North Korean naval official also said South Korean demands for an apology were the "height of impudence" and that the North Korea navy had been acting with special restraint because South Korea was co-hosting the World Cup with Japan.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, a wounded South Korean sailor gave his account from a military hospital bed in Seoul of the worst clash between the Koreas in three years. Four sailors died and 19 others in the 27-member crew on his boat, which later sank, were wounded. One was missing.

"I could see the number '608' on the North Korean ship and thought the distance was pretty close," Navy Staff Sgt. Hwang Chan-kyu told KBS-TV, a local television news station.

"All of a sudden, I saw a glint of bright light from the enemy ship and a moment later, our ship was ablaze," said Hwang, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds and had a bandage around his head.

South Korean warships returned fire during the 21-minute battle. Ahn Gi-seok, a navy commodore at the South Korean office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated there were 30 North Korean casualties.

Hwang said North Korean shots hit his ship's steering room, fatally wounding the commanding officer, Lt. Yoon Young-ha.

"Lt. Yoon was bleeding heavily from his back but was still alive, so I tried artificial respiration on him but it wasn't helpful," Hwang said. "A few feet away, I saw another colleague dying, and I pulled the trigger on my machine gun like a madman."

Hwang said he also saw another sailor struggling to reload his automatic rifle with only one hand after losing his left hand in enemy fire.

North Korea said on Sunday South Korea had staged the surprise attack on its navy to provoke a response, damage Pyongyang's image and undermine already strained relations during soccer's World Cup.

But, in an unexpected move, the head of the North Korean football association sent the South's politically powerful soccer chief a letter to congratulate him on South Korea's strong showing in the month-long tournament.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported on the letter as Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan. It was the first public word from North Korea to South Korea on the event, and it did not note the South had co-hosted the tournament with Japan.

It said North Korean soccer chief Ri Kwang-gun had written to the South's Chung Mong-joon, who is also a vice-president of FIFA and a potential South Korean presidential candidate.

KCNA said the letter noted "the success made by the team is a striking demonstration of the advantages and tenacity of the Korean nation to the world." It said the South had followed the North's giant-killing display at the 1966 World Cup in England.

Few in the South doubt the incident was timed by the North to taint South Korea's World Cup parade -- a remarkable run by its soccer team and accompanying headline-hogging scenes of millions of ebullient "Red Devil" soccer crowds.

But North Korea put it the other way around, and the football association letter further confused any message the North was trying to telegraph. The official North Korean news agency KCNA quoted a navy spokesman as saying the South's demand for an apology was "the height of impudence."

"The serious military provocation made by the South Korean military authorities is aimed to orchestrate a shocking incident at a time when the World Cup is going on and shift the blame for it on to the DPRK," the spokesman said.

DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

It was the first time KCNA had mentioned the World Cup in the entire month, although North Korean TV has shown excerpts.

The United States, which keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea, has expressed support for Seoul.

It was unclear how the clash might affect U.S. efforts to end a prolonged suspension of security talks with North Korea. Washington has proposed talks in the second week of July in North Korea.

The skirmish Saturday was a setback to President Kim's "sunshine" policy of trying to engage the isolated North. Opposition lawmakers say the policy is too lenient.

On Sunday, two North Korean warships and about 30 fishing boats appeared in the disputed area but did not cross the border, South Korea said. South Korean ferry services to the area resumed.

Also Sunday, 540 South Koreans left by ship on a sightseeing tour of scenic Diamond Mountain on North Korea's east coast. The tourist program is a major source of cash for the impoverished North.

In 1999, a series of border violations by North Korean ships touched off the first naval clash between the two Koreas since the Korean War. One North Korean warship sank and about 30 North Korean sailors died, according to South Korea. Several South Korean sailors were wounded.