Posted on 06/29/2002 6:13:18 PM PDT by Axion
Korean Naval Clash Has Wider Implications Summary
29 June 2002
A naval clash between North and South Korean ships will embarass South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, but was planned with an eye toward upcoming security talks with the United States.
Analysis
North and South Korean warships briefly exchanged fire near the Yellow Sea border June 29. Seoul's Defense Ministry said one South Korean vessel was sunk. The clash occurred when two groups of South Korean navy vessels were dispatched to repel two North Korean warships that crossed a de-facto sea border called the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
The North Korean government certainly has a gift for timing. The incursion took place hours before South Korea's final game in the World Cup, and embarrassed President Kim Dae-jung, who has pushed a policy of reconciliation with Pyongyang. But the battle also occurred a day after the U.S. agreed to restart security talks with North Korea, and is very likely meant to give Pyongyang an edge in the negotiations.
The 20-minute firefight occurred in the same area as a battle in June 1999 in which dozens of North Korean sailors were killed, following nine days of North Korean intrusions. That battle was the first naval clash since the 1950-53 Korean War. In that incident, one North Korean naval boat sank and three of its warships were severely damaged.
The latest incident came after a series of maritime border incursions by North Korean warships and fishing boats into South Korean territorial waters in the West Sea. On Friday, two North Korean patrol boats briefly crossed the border in the 10th such violation this year. North Korean fishing boats have entered South Korean territorial waters four times this year.
The clash is embarrassing for the administration of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who just days ago underscored that his "Sunshine Policy" of engaging North Korea while maintaining military readiness had ensured a safe World Cup for South Korea and co-host Japan. The battle took place just hours before South Korea played Turkey in the third-place game.
But the North Korean planners were probably thinking about more than soccer. The attack may have been groundwork for upcoming negotiations with the United States.
Washington said June 28 that it was ready to send a senior official to talk with the North in mid-July in Pyongyang. There have been no security discussions between the two countries since late in the Clinton administration. President Bush proposed resumption of the talks more than a year ago, but it was not until this past spring that North Korea indicated it might accept.
In recent years, Pyongyang has tended to act in unexpected, sometime violent, ways when it prepares to enter negotiations. Doing so often gives them an edge, and often presents a pressing issue (such as border violations) that takes precedence over deeper issues.
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Yea, yea, I know........this enables these little clowns can steer the talks off into other topics..........
........but jeeze do they look like a bunch of little children that need a good spanking.
Why do I think (and hope) that ain't gonna work with this administration?
That's the way negotiations for the original cease-fire went, but then it was the Chinese trying this crap. They seem to accept a degree of wariness as a measure of respect.
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