ID :
41898
Wed, 01/21/2009 - 11:01
Auther :

(Yonhap Feature) N. Korea low-key amid US celebration, but tension runs high near disputed island

By Sam Kim
YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- As millions gathered around
Capitol Hill to celebrate the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama, North
Korea chose to exercise peace in the sea frontier it had days earlier threatened
to shatter.

Its troops stayed low-key, South Korean soldiers on an elevated vigil said, and
the waters that separate the two Koreas in the west remained calm despite earlier
threats by the North to defeat any opposition to its claim over a disputed Yellow
Sea border.
"We have been told to maintain the highest vigil, but no unusual activities
emerged," South Korean 1st Lt. Park Jae-suk said on Yeonpyeong Island as he gazed
down on a set of North Korean islets just several kilometers away.
The sea surrounding Yeonpeyong, about 100 kilometers west of Seoul, has been a
flashpoint between the divided states since the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in
a truce rather than a peace treaty.
The western coast has also been a site of protest for North Korea against the
outside world, including the U.S. The communist country test-fired missiles there
whenever it deemed it necessary to raise tension and strengthen its diplomatic
leverage. It also engaged in deadly naval skirmishes with South Korea near the
island in 1999 and 2002, leaving dozens of soldiers dead or injured on both
sides.
North Korea renewed its threat last weekend, saying it would mobilize its forces
to push the U.N.-drawn maritime border south of the island. The announcement by a
uniformed military spokesman followed a foreign ministry statement that professed
North Korea's intent to retain nuclear arms even after ties between Pyongyang and
Washington are normalized.
Pyongyang also notified a U.S. scholar of its success in weaponizing enough
plutonium to create several atomic bombs, and experts noted that the string of
gestures came just days before Obama took office with a lengthy list of domestic
and foreign issues to address.
"North Korea is telling Obama, 'Look, treat us carefully, we deserve priority,'"
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University said. "It is
also setting a hostile but controlled mood that will help strengthen its position
in talks with the Obama administration."
Experts played down the likeliness of aggression beyond the harsh rhetoric this
week, because it would actually weaken North Korea's diplomatic posture against
the South and the United States.
But South Korean troops remained on an elevated alert here and fully expanded
their monitoring capacity ahead of Obama's inauguration in Washington.
A visit to Yeonpyeong revealed what residents described as an increase in South
Korean gunboats, as defense officials in Seoul said almost every attack vessel
operated by the 2nd Fleet had been dispatched to the area.
South Korea also shortened the take-off intervals of its surveillance airplanes,
while stepping up its communication with the United States that has 28,500 troops
here and operates state-of-the-art intelligence equipment.
Officers at the marine base on Yeonpyeong said they took North Korea's threat to
go on "an all-out confrontation posture" seriously, but assured they were ready
to fight back in full scale.
"We're not scared. We don't fight with lips like they do," Sergeant First Class
Ryu Gye-su said, showing a coastal trench fortified with heavy-machine guns,
nighttime spotlights, and mortars stashed behind concrete barricades.
Ryu said he has increasingly spotted enemy planes hovering over the North Korean
side of the border in the last six months, when ties between the Koreas degraded
to one of their lowest points in history.
Speaking against a backdrop of several rotating radars on hilltops, Ryu said his
4,000-strong unit has almost doubled its patrol under orders to "stay tense."
The tension along the heavily guarded border came amid rumors that have now
become a fait accompli: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is sick after a brain
stroke.
The rumors, coupled with a months-long stalemate in the six-nation talks that
deal with North Korean nuclear weapons program, have even led to reports that
Kim, 67, has hastily named a successor.
"Conducting missile tests or provoking maritime clashes would be a bad idea for
Kim because it would create confusion as to who is truly in control in North
Korea: him or the military?" said Kim Yeon-cheol, a defense and international
relations expert at Hannam University in the city of Daejeon.
"But we also can't rule out North Korea being tempted to demonstrate its
capability to deliver nuclear warheads by testing missiles and further extend its
negotiating position," he said.
Yeonpyeong lies about 10 kilometers south of the nearest North Korean city and 85
kilometers west of the South Korean industrial city of Incheon, the site of
General Douglas MacArthur's 1950 landing that turned the tables on North Korea in
the Korean War.
The small village on the island appears almost built into the base, and even
civilians were seen strolling along the rugged hillside roads below which
soldiers exercised next to their barracks.
Hills were covered by a maze of both paved and jagged roads, and trucks loaded
with armed soldiers constantly moved through the village.
Locals said they were used to heightened tension, but this time it seemed different.
"Watching the news, I feel insecure. It feels serious this time," Kim Soon-ok,
60, said as she headed out to a beach to scrape barnacles off sea farms.
"Of course, we live under the constant threat of death. You just never know when
mortar fire will fall on your head. But we trust our troops," Noh Hee-bu, 82,
said.
Showing one of more than a dozen wartime shelters, Shin Gyoung-ah, a town
official, said the village, home to 1,500 residents,is more concerned about the
influence the tension would have on its livelihoods than the North Korean threat
itself.
"Crabbing starts in April, and villagers are worried they may be restricted in
their fishing area," she said. Shin added Chinese boats have also taken away a
large portion of crabbing profits as they exploit the tension by sailing back and
forth between the Koreas.
Guard posts along the coast contain sheets of warnings in Chinese that are
spelled out in Korean for soldiers to sound through speakers, while the town
office logs Chinese intrusions daily on a board.
"I'm more afraid of the harm done by the Chinese fishing boats," Jang Young-gil,
a 74-year-old fisherman, said. "I would've run away long ago had I been scared of
the North Korean navy."
The 1999 clash near Yeonpyeong is believed to have left tens of North Koreans
dead or injured. The 2002 battle left six South Koreans dead and 18 others
injured, while some 30 North Koreans were believed to be either dead or injured.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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