N. Korea threatens 'merciless' action to defend sea border with S. Korea

(ATTN: CHANGES slug; UPDATES throughout; REPLACES with KCNA's English-language report)
By Sam Kim and Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened "merciless" military action
Friday to defend its maritime border with South Korea, demanding an apology for a
naval skirmish earlier this week off their west coast.

The statement by the North's military delegation to talks with the South came
after the navies of the two countries engaged briefly near the Northern Limit
Line (NLL) on Tuesday.
It is also a response to the protest that Seoul formally lodged with Pyongyang
hours after the clash, in which the South Korean Navy side suffered no
casualties, defense officials here said.
South Korea says the skirmish erupted after a North Korean patrol boat crossed
the NLL and opened fire on a South Korean speed boat after ignoring warning
shots.
The South Korean side fired nearly 5,000 rounds during the two-minute battle,
sending the North Korean boat fleeing in flames with one sailor reportedly dead
and three others wounded.
"Reminding again that there exists in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) of Korea only the
extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the waters set by the KPA side, it
will take merciless military measures to defend the extension from this moment,"
said the North Korean statement carried by the country's official Korean Central
News Agency.
North Korea claimed that a group of South Korean warships intruded its waters and
provoked its naval vessel returning to port after routine patrol.
North Korea does not recognize the NLL that was drawn unilaterally in 1953 by the
U.S. commander of U.N. forces that fought on the South Korean side in the
three-year Korean War.
Skirmishes turned bloody near the line when the navies of the divided states
exchanged gunfire in 1999 and 2002.
"It is the politically motivated shameless provocation to resort to a futile
military adventure to preserve the illegal 'northern limit line' still today when
the times have changed," it said.
North Korea has yet to show any sign of aggression on its border with South
Korea, the officials here said.
"We're seeing no particular movement with the North Korean military," one
official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said the warning of military
actions is "a rhetoric North Korea customarily uses" but has not put into action.
The threat comes as U.S. President Barack Obama has just begun his first Asia
trip that ends in South Korea next week, with North Korea's nuclear program high
on the agenda. Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy,
is expected to travel to North Korea for rare bilateral negotiations on the
nuclear dispute.
hkim@yna.co.kr
samkim@yna.co.kr
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