Korean Navies Skirmish in Disputed Waters

Korean Navies Skirmish in Disputed Waters
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korean naval vessels exchanged fire in disputed waters off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, leaving one North Korean vessel engulfed in flames, South Korean officials said.

One North Korean sailor was killed and three others injured, according to MBC, a South Korean television station. The South Korean defense minister, Kim Tae-young, told Parliament that he could not confirm the report.

The two Koreas accused each other of violating territorial waters, provoking the fierce two-minute skirmish. It was the first border fighting in seven years between the countries, which technically remain at war after fighting in the 1950-3 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a permanent peace treaty.

The clash underlined the instability in the region just days before President Obama begins a weeklong visit to Asia. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program will be a leading topic not only when Mr. Obama meets with the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, in Seoul next week but also during bilateral talks that American officials say they will begin soon with the North.

Ahead of those talks, North Korea may have intended for the clash to highlight its longstanding argument that the war between the Koreas from 1950-53 never officially ended and that the United States must negotiate a peace treaty if it wants North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, according to analysts in Seoul.

- more at www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/asia/11korea.html?_r=2&hp