BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
After several days of escalating naval provocations, south
Korean warships fired 150 artillery shells and more than 7,000
machine gun bullets at vessels from the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) June 15. The barrage set fire to a
north Korean patrol boat and sank it, killing all 17 crew
members.
Washington, which maintains some 40,000 troops and a naval armada in and around south Korea, immediately announced it was deploying more force, including two cruisers, the Vincennes and the Mobile Bay, as well as electronic warfare aircraft and antisubmarine aircraft. The DPRK's ambassador to the United Nations, Li Hyong Chol, urged the UN Security Council June 18 to "take a measure to cease at once the military provocations on the part of the U.S. and the south side." Li said Washington was deploying AC-130 ground attack planes, as well as F-15 and F-18 fighter bombers in south Korea, had moved its warships into the area, and put U.S. Marines on alert in Okinawa. U.S. Navy and Air Force warplanes have also stepped up patrol flights over the region.
Seoul has amassed frigates, destroyers, and landed ships in the area, while putting its entire armed forces, including 650,000 troops, on combat alert.
The conflict began June 7 when six north Korean patrol boats escorted fishing vessels into a crab-fishing area just off its west coast. DPRK officials said the naval escorts were necessary in response to actions by Seoul's warships, which chased off north Korean fishing boats in the crab-rich region.
South Korean officials claimed the ships from the DPRK crossed the "northern limit line," which was unilaterally imposed by the U.S.-led UN Command after the Korean people fought Washington to a stalemate in the 1950-53 war. The DPRK does not recognize the line.
After a tense encounter over the disputed waters, south Korean patrol boats rammed four north Korean vessels June 11. "Our ships are ready to butt the north Korean intruders again," declared Col. Hwang Dong Kyu the next day.
Seeking to ratchet up military pressure on the DPRK, south Korean Defense Minister Cho Seong Tae met with U.S. Gen. John Tilelli, the chief U.S. military commander in south Korea, and asked him to put some U.S. troops on high alert "The U.S. Command would help us," asserted Capt. Shin Han Woo, a south Korean defense ministry spokesman.
On June 13 the DPRK government agreed to a meeting called by U.S. military officials in south Korea. Two days later, however, Seoul's warships sunk the north Korean vessel, and Pyongyang suspended contact with Seoul.