S. Korea to mark 8th anniversary of sea battle with North

SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will hold its first government-organized
ceremony Tuesday to honor the soldiers killed in a bloody naval skirmish with
North Korea eight years ago, officials said Monday.
Six naval sailors were killed in the skirmish near the western sea border between
the two Koreas. The deadly battle began when two North Korean patrol boats
intruded into the South's western waters off the island of Yeonpyeong on June 29,
2002.
The sea border has long been a constant source of military tensions between the
two Koreas. The sides fought bloody gunbattles there in 1999, 2002 and 2009. And
in March of this year, a North Korean submarine also sank a South Korean patrol
ship near the maritime boundary, killing 46 sailors.
Ceremonies to mark the 2002 skirmish have so far been held in the name of the
Navy, but this year's event will be organized by the government on a much larger
scale in an effort to increase public awareness of national security amid
heightened tensions over Pyongyang's March ship sinking, officials said.
The ceremony, to be held at the War Memorial hall in Seoul for the first time,
will draw about 2,500 participants, including the families of the six South
Korean soldiers killed in the naval skirmish and Prime Minister Chung Un-chan,
the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said in a statement.
"In order to remember the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong with the people, the
ministry is also operating a 'cyber memorial hall' at Web sites of the defense
ministry and the Navy," said a defense ministry official.
Although no exact casualties from the North were reported, about 30 North Korean
sailors were believed to have been killed or wounded in the 2002 skirmish,
according to the South's ministry. The battle also left 18 South Korean sailors
injured.
The two Koreas fought deadly naval skirmishes in waters along the western sea
border in 1999, 2002 and November of last year.
kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

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