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Posted on 06/29/2002 1:13:16 AM PDT by SunStar
Four S.Koreans Killed, 18 Hurt in Clash with North
Sat Jun 29, 3:05 AM ET
By Paul Eckert
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - Four South Korean sailors were killed and 18 wounded in a clash with North Korean patrol boats on Saturday in waters off the west coast of the divided peninsula, South Korea said.
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The defense ministry said one South Korean vessel was sunk in the clash in the Yellow Sea at a point 170 km (105 miles) west of Inchon International Airport, through which tens of thousands of World Cup soccer visitors entered the country this month.
"This provocative behavior by North Korea is a blatant armistice violation for which North Korea bears full responsibility," South Korean Lieutenant General Lee Sang-hee told a news conference at the defense ministry in Seoul.
South and North Korea have been divided since the 1950-53 Korean War and are still technically at war because the fighting ended in a truce that has not been replaced by a peace treaty.
"We believe the incursion was very intentional," he said of the 12th maritime intrusion by North Korean vessels this year.
The first major naval clash in three years prompted South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to convene an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, his office said.
RIGHT AFTER SAFE TOURNAMENT
Kim also scrapped plans to watch the last World Cup soccer match played by and hosted in South Korea, a third-place playoff with Turkey in the southeastern city of Taegu on Saturday night.
Kim, who had been scheduled to watch the match on television, had just days earlier underscored that his policy of engaging communist North Korea while maintaining military readiness had ensured a safe World Cup in South Korea and co-host Japan.
The military spokesman Lee said two North Korean patrol ships briefly crossed the disputed maritime border -- North Korea does not recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line -- 40 km (25 miles) west of Yeonpyongdo, an island off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
"A North Korean patrol ship started shooting at around 10:25 (0125 GMT)...one of our navy vessels sank," he said.
"Four South Korean personnel were killed, 18 were injured and one is missing," Lee said, adding there were 27 sailors on the vessel that sank. He said the two North Korean boats had returned to northern waters after the clash.
DIPLOMACY IN FOCUS
North Korean state media have remained silent so far on the clash, which occurred three years after a naval firefight in the same area in which as many as 80 North Korean sailors were killed following nine days of North Korean intrusions.
Hours before the clash, the United States said it had proposed to North Korea that a senior U.S. official visit Pyongyang next month to resume the high-level dialogue broken off at the start of the Bush administration.
James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, would be the highest ranking U.S. official to go to reclusive North Korea since Madeleine Albright, secretary of state at the time, made a historic visit in October 2000.
North Korea, which President Bush) has included in his "axis of evil," has cited the United States' tough stance as the reason it has not followed through with a set of diplomatic agreements with America's ally, South Korea.
The United States maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea to deter a repeat of the North Korean invasion which sparked he Korean War. Most of the U.S. forces are dug in near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas -- one of the most heavily fortified frontiers in the world. (Additional reporting by Kim Miyoung)
Interesting, we can place 37,000 young American men on this border but we refuse to secure our own borders.
His policy of weakness has contributed to the loss of a warship. All in all, North Korea was unlikely to care a great deal about the World Cup regardless of South Korean policy.
Why? The only ship sunk was South Korean. Kim Dae Jung is hardly an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy. Besides that I don't know how you can get any believeable statistics of any kind out of North Korea.
This is the first time I've ever agreed with the commie North about anything.
That 37,000 strong military force, on the 150-mile-long South/North Korean border, is one of the most often used statistics, by open borders advocates, to make a disingenuous argument against putting our own military on our own borders.
The military force required to stop a modern invasion, by a combined North Korean and Red Chinese military force, has no logical relation to the force required to secure our own borders against civilian invaders and that joke of a Mexican military.
John Kasick, subbing for O'Reilly last night, used it right in front of Camarota, from the Center for Immigration Studies, and he let him get away with it.
Sounds like almost a regular occurance.
A skirmish or two (or twelve) betwix foes is nothing new.
Nothing to get excited about here.
That is not in the game plan. We are not supposed to have borders.
WELL!? Dammit Reuters, who won the game?
All the South Koreans want us for is the money they milk us for.We have Koreans serve with us in our Army[Katusa's]who mainly are rich kids who want to get out of serving in the ROK army because it's rough and they actually have it made with us.Any way,a lot of them would go to Seoul and protest against America and rail for unification with the North on the weekends.
All the South Koreans want us for is the money they milk us for.We have Koreans serve with us in our Army[Katusa's]who mainly are rich kids who want to get out of serving in the ROK army because it's rough and they actually have it made with us.Any way,a lot of them would go to Seoul and protest against America and rail for unification with the North on the weekends.
Oh, Lord. Give it a break, will you? Our President is trying to move this country from its head-in-the-sand hodge-podge of contradictory and "let's pretend" immigration policies to a unified and rational policy that will undergird our continued prosperity. We need to accept more immigrants legally rather than maintaining quotas that are absurdly low wrt to the requirements of our labor market. It is this diconnect which leads to the unacceptably high levels of illegal immigration.
If you want to live in a country that is decaying with aging populations and a dearth of young working people, or with seething and discontented masses of unassimilated immigrants provided no path to full integration in the society, there are plenty of such countries in Europe. If you have your way, though, we'll be in the same boat here soon enough.
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