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

(ATTN: ADDS comments by S. Korean defense officials; RESTRUCTURES; ADDS background)
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 chief of North Korea's military delegation is a response to
the protest his South Korean counterpart lodged hours after the navies of the two
countries engaged briefly near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on Tuesday,
officials here said.
South Korea suffered no casualties in the two-minute battle, while the North
Korean patrol boat that had crossed the NLL fled in flames after coming under
nearly 5,000 rounds of fire.
North Korea does not recognize the NLL because it was drawn unilaterally at the
end of the 1950-53 Korean War by the U.S. commander of U.N. forces that fought on
the South Korean side.
"There exists in the West Sea of Korea only the extension of the Military
Demarcation Line" drawn by the North's military, it said in the statement carried
by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea "will take merciless military measures to defend the extension from
this moment," it said.
South Korea says the skirmish erupted after a North Korean patrol boat crossed
the NLL despite warning shots and opened fire on a South Korean speedboat.
North Korea says that a group of South Korean warships intruded into its waters
and provoked its naval vessel that was returning to port after a routine patrol.
Skirmishes turned bloody near the NLL when the navies of the divided states
exchanged gunfire in 1999 and 2002. On Tuesday, one North Korea sailor was
reportedly killed, with three others wounded.
A senior South Korean defense official, speaking to reporters on condition of
anonymity, dismissed the latest North Korean threat as "rhetoric."
"This seems to be aimed at throwing the blame on the South for the incident," he
said, adding the North probably released the statement to the public in a move to
unite its regime.
He noted North Korea has yet to show any sign of aggression on its border with
South Korea, saying, "We're seeing no particular movement with the North Korean
military."
Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo also dismissed the threat as "a
rhetoric North Korea customarily uses" but has not put into action.
The threat came as U.S. President Barack Obama began his first Asia trip that
will end in South Korea next week, with North Korea's nuclear program high on the
agenda.
"North Korea has the opportunity to move towards acceptance by the international
community if it will comply with its international obligations," he said in a
written interview with Yonhap News Agency.
Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy, is also expected
to travel to North Korea for bilateral negotiations on the nuclear dispute.
South and North Korea remain technically at war after the Korean War ended in a
truce. Relations between them deteriorated after South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak took office early last year with a pledge to get tougher on the North's
nuclear program.
North Korea repeatedly warned of an armed provocation near the NLL early this
year. But the communist country, slapped with U.N. sanctions imposed after its
May nuclear test, has in recent months extended peace overtures to the South and
the U.S.
samkim@yna.co.kr
hkim@yna.co.kr
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