S. Korea Sinks N. Korean Ship
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean warships sank a
North Korean torpedo boat after an exchange of gunfire
Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, in an
escalation of their high-seas standoff.
``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 during a 10-minute exchange in contested waters of
the Yellow Sea.
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.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the
northern general ``lodged a strong protest ... against
military provocations being committed by South Korean naval
vessels.''
P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council
at the White House, said the Clinton administration was
monitoring the situation.
``There are military-to-military talks going on today to
discuss this situation and we are in close touch with the South Korean
government regarding the steps they are taking in
response,'' Crowley said.
The United States has about 37,000 troops in South Korea,
but there was no change in their alert status.
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.
Henry
