(5th LD) N. Korean ship damaged in inter-Korean naval clash

(ATTN: ADDS analysts' comments throughout; RESTRUCTURES; RECASTS lead, headline;
UPDATES throughout)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- Naval boats of the two Koreas opened fire on each
other on Tuesday in their first armed clash off the west coast of the divided
Korean Peninsula in seven years, officials said.

No South Korean casualties were reported, but North Korea's patrol boat retreated
after apparently suffering "considerable" damage near Baekryeong island, a Navy
official here said.
"It wasn't a close-range battle. We fired heavily on the North Korean vessel,"
the official said, speaking under the condition of anonymity.
The battle erupted shortly after 11:30 a.m. when the North Korean boat ignored
South Korean warning shots to return across the Northern Limit Line, where
clashes turned bloody in 1999 and 2002.
"The North Koreans then opened fire on the South Korean boat," the official said,
adding the clash took place 1.6 mile south of the NLL, which North Korea has long
claimed should be redrawn.
"The battle itself lasted no more than a minute," he said. The North Korean boat
had crossed the NLL at 11:27 a.m.
South Korean analysts gave mixed views about North Korea's possible motive behind
the incident, which took place only a week ahead of an Asian trip by U.S.
President Barack Obama.
"It appears to be a move to raise tension ahead of Obama's visit to South Korea,"
Yoo Ho-yeol a North Korea professor at Korea University in Seoul. "North Koreans
believe tension helps them strengthen their bargaining power."
Ryu Gil-jae, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
disagreed, saying the incident appeared aimed at testing the South Korean
government.
"North Korea would have test-fired missiles if it had wanted to vex the U.S.," he
said. "The Yellow Sea clash is more of a message to the South that it should be
taken more seriously."
The clash came amid an accelerating thaw between the Koreas, whose relations
turned frosty following the inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
early last year.
Kang Sung-yoon, a North Korea specialist at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the
North Korean attack on the South appears to serve more than one purpose.
But Kang warned against reaching a quick conclusion on the issue, saying the
battle should be more closely examined in the first place.
"Details regarding the incident should be looked at to understand what the North
Korean intent really was," he said.
South Korea recently deployed its latest high-speed guided-missile boat along the
NLL, which was drawn by a U.S. general at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War that
ended in a truce.
"We are analyzing the motive for the North Korean boat's crossing. We do not rule
out the possibility that the clash may have been an accidental skirmish," a
defense official here said, asking for anonymity.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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