-Caveat Lector-
S. Korea Sinks N. Korean Ship
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean warships sank a North
Korean torpedo boat Tuesday in contested waters of the Yellow Sea
after a 10-minute exchange of gunfire, South Korea's Defense
Ministry said.
``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 patrolling the area.
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.
Spokesmen for U.S. State and Defense departments declined
comment. A White House spokesman did not immediately return a
call seeking comment.
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they usually have withdrawn quickly.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.
=================================================================
Kaddish, Kaddish, Kaddish, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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