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