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South Korea prepares for naval battle with North over sea border
South Korea said on Wednesday it is preparing for the possibility of North Korea provoking a naval skirmish around their disputed sea border amid rapidly worsening relations between the two sides.
- AP
- Published: 23:16 December 3, 2008
Seoul: South Korea said on Wednesday it is preparing for the possibility of North Korea provoking a naval skirmish around their disputed sea border amid rapidly worsening relations between the two sides.
Tension on the divided peninsula has been running high, with North Korea restricting traffic through its land border with the South in protest against what it calls Seoul's "confrontational" policies.
The restrictions forced the suspension of two landmark reconciliation projects, and a sharp cutback in the number of South Koreans working at an industrial complex in the North - a blow to a decade of rapprochement efforts between the neighbours.
Analysts have warned that Pyongyang could take further steps to escalate tensions, such as shutting down the factory park or instigating naval skirmishes around their disputed sea border, to pressure the South's conservative government to soften its policy toward the North.
In Seoul, the Defence Ministry reported to Parliament yesterday that it is preparing for the possibility of North Korea launching attacks on naval ships or seizing South Korean fishing boats.
Playing safe
The defence report said the South Korean military is barring navy vessels and fishing boats from engaging in any activity that could give the communist neighbour a "pretext for provocation."
A ministry official said the report does not mean there are any concrete signs that the North is preparing such provocations but that it simply stresses the need for the military's preparedness for any situation. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
The western sea border has been a constant source of military tension between the two Koreas still technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
North Korea does not recognise the boundary, drawn by the United Nations at the end of the conflict, and claims the line should be redrawn further south. The disagreement led to two deadly skirmishes in the disputed waters in 1999 and 2002.
Question on nukes
Regional powers said yesterday they will use a meeting next week, likely to be the Bush administration's last major forum with North Korea, to press the reclusive state to verify claims about its nuclear programme.
Analysts said North Korea, sensing US President George W. Bush's team is looking for a rare diplomatic success before leaving office in January, may try to squeeze last-minute concessions at the six-party meeting next week in Beijing.
Failing that, it will likely wait until the next president takes office.
The most recent stumbling block in a disarmament-for-aid deal the North reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US is Pyongyang's objection to allowing international inspectors to take nuclear samples out of the country for testing.
"We agreed that it should be made clear what is to be done, so there is no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation among the six parties when the verification process starts," Japan's envoy Akitaka Saiki said after meeting the US and South Korean envoys.
North Korea's seasoned nuclear envoy Kim Kye-Gwan and the top US negotiator Christopher Hill will meet on Thursday and Friday in Singapore, a US embassy official there said in talks analysts said are expected to set the tone for Beijing.
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