N. Korea sent former military chief to western sea border: sources

SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has recently appointed its former
military chief as head of an army corps that oversees the western inter-Korean
sea border, an area of rising inter-Korean tension, government sources said
Thursday.
General Kim Kyok-sik, who was replaced by Ri Yong-ho as chief of the General
Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in a military reshuffle on Feb. 11, was
transfered to the KPA's 4th Army Corps, whose mission includes guarding the
inter-Korean sea border in the Yellow Sea, the sources said on condition of
anonymity.
The appointment, apparently made by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has prompted
speculation about his motives regarding the contested area.
Two bloody skirmishes occurred along the western sea border in June of 1999 and
2002, killing scores of South Korean soldiers and an unknown, but likely larger,
number of North Koreans.
The western sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL), was unilaterally
drawn by U.S.-led U.N. forces after the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea insists
it should be redrawn further south.
Tension spiked after the North said on Jan. 30 that it is scrapping all peace
accords with the South and will no longer respect the NLL. South Korea has since
put its military on a heightened alert.
The government sources dismissed speculation that the appointment may be a
prelude to a provocation by the North along the sea border.
"There is no evidence to say that Kim (Jong-il) had certain intentions sending
the general to the NLL area," one of the sources said.
They also noted that the general was removed from the North's rubber stamp
parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, in Sunday's elections in a possible
sign of his demotion.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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