Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- South and North Korean warships exchanged fire off their western coast after the North’s vessel crossed a disputed sea border and ignored several warning shots, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in Seoul.
The North Korean vessel ventured 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) into waters claimed by South Korea at about 10:33 a.m. local time today, triggering a two-minute exchange of fire that left 15 holes in the South Korean vessel, according to the military. The North’s ship returned across the border in flames after it was badly damaged in the exchange, Yonhap News reported, citing a government official in Seoul it didn’t identify.
North Korea said its patrol ship was attacked first by South Korean warships while on “routine guard duty” in its own waters and demanded an apology.
The first clash in seven years comes a week before U.S. President Barack Obama is to visit South Korea as part of an Asian tour. The Obama administration plans to send special representative for North Korean policy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang in a bid to bring the regime back to disarmament talks, a White House official said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn’t been announced.
“North Korea often creates this kind of incident as a get- out clause” if negotiations don’t go its way, said Phil Deans, a professor of international affairs at Temple University in Tokyo. “The Americans really want to engage with North Korea, resolve the nuclear issue and move on to the bigger problems they feel they have in the Middle East and Pakistan, but North Korea is very unpredictable and it’s very hard to do.”
Bosworth Trip
News of the clash caused South Korea’s Kospi Index to pare its gains. The benchmark closed up 0.4 percent at 1,582.30, having risen as much as 1.5 percent in the morning session.
No date has been given for Bosworth’s trip, which comes after North Korea last week threatened to “go its own way” if the U.S. doesn’t commit to direct talks. North Korea withdrew from multinational negotiations involving South Korea, Japan, China and Russia in protest against the United Nations condemnation of its April 5 firing of a long-range rocket.
North Korea said on Nov. 3 it finished reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods as of the end of August to extract plutonium used in nuclear weapons. The country detonated its second nuclear device in May, less than three years after its first test in 2006.
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea cooled after an August visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton to secure the release of two detained U.S. journalists, paving the way for the direct talks announced yesterday.
Disputed Boundary
Today’s skirmish may be a case of North Korea seeking a scapegoat in case talks don’t go its way or if Pyongyang decides to cancel the U.S. talks, Temple’s Deans said.
North Korea doesn’t recognize the boundary off the west coast, the scene of naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002. The two nations remain divided after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease fire, and have never signed a peace treaty.
After the South Korean ship fired warning shots, the North Korean ship opened direct fire, an e-mailed statement from the Joint Chiefs said. The South’s vessel then fired back, it said. There were no South Korean casualties and the military is on full alert for any additional provocation, the statement said.
The clash was “regrettable,” Brig. Gen. Lee Ki Sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Seoul. “We strongly protest to North Korea and urge the prevention of a recurrence of such events.”
Fifteen Holes
He said he couldn’t confirm the extent of any damage to the North Korean ship or North Korean casualties.
One North Korean soldier may have been killed and three other injured, Yonhap reported, citing a Joint Chiefs official it didn’t identify.
North Korea’s military accused the South of violating its border. South Korean ships first opened fire, prompting the North Korean patrol ship to “deal a prompt retaliatory blow at the provokers,” the Supreme Command of the North’s army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The South Korean military authorities should make an apology to the north side for the armed provocation and take a responsible measure against the recurrence of the similar provocation,” the statement said, without mentioning casualties or damage.
North Korea on Oct. 15 accused South Korea of violating its maritime border and threatened military action if the intrusion persisted.
The North has intruded into South Korean waters 22 times so far this year, Lee said
