N. Korean provocation likely to be 'beyond imagination': naval commander

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top naval commander was quoted Tuesday
as warning that North Korea could provoke in a fashion "beyond our imagination"
as he inspected South Korea's east coast despite rising concerns of an armed
clash on the western side.
The inspection by Navy Chief of Staff Jung Ok-keun came just days after the South
Korean chairman of general staff said at a parliamentary hearing that the North
could deploy surprise tactics by provoking at an unexpected site along the border
with South Korea.
North Korea recently scrapped all its military agreements with South Korea and
warned of an armed clash near their Yellow Sea border -- the site of bloody naval
clashes in 1999 and 2002.
Pyongyang is also apparently moving to test-fire a long-range missile technically
capable of reaching the western United States, even though it claims it is
assembling a satellite.
"It is predicted that the North will mobilize tactics beyond our imagination,
possibly provoking on the eastern sea front," Jung said as he visited the First
Fleet command, the Navy said in a statement.
He cited an ancient Chinese strategy that calls for saber-rattling in the east
before launching an attack in the west, the statement said.
North Korea warned Monday that the divided peninsula is on the brink of war. The
two Koreas are theoretically at war because their 1950-53 Korean War ended in a
ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
The Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led
U.N. Command at the end of the war, and Pyongyang insists it be redrawn further
south.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are deployed in South Korea as a deterrent against the
North.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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