putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)

by josephpatrol Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:32 pm

SEOUL (AFP) - � A North Korean patrol boat was badly damaged as the navies of North and South Korea exchanged fire on Tuesday, officials said, heightening tensions in one of the world's most sensitive military flashpoints.
The clash near the disputed sea border off the peninsula's west coast -- the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002 -- came eight days before US President Barack Obama was due to visit South Korea as part of an Asian tour.
The South Korean military blamed the North for the incident.
A North Korean patrol boat crossed the border and sailed south for about 0.7 miles (1.1 kilometres), Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
It said a South Korean high-speed naval boat sent several warning signals but the North's craft held its course.
After the South's boat fired warning shots, "the North's side opened fire, directly aiming at our ship. Then our ship responded by firing back, forcing the North Korean boat to return to the north," the statement said.
"There were no casualties on our side. We are on the lookout for any further provocations by the North."
A JCS spokesman told AFP the North's boat was damaged by cannon fire.
"It wasn't a close-range battle. We fired heavily on the North Korean vessel," an unidentified navy official told Yonhap news agency.
"It is our initial assessment that the North Korean boat suffered considerable damage."
South Korea's YTN television quoted military sources as saying the North's boat crossed the border while trying to stop illegal fishing by Chinese boats in the rich crab-fishing grounds. History of naval clashes between the two Koreas
It said the JCS was in urgent session to determine whether the border crossing was a deliberate provocation.
The border known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL) has always been a potential flashpoint.
The North's navy last month accused South Korea of sending warships across the line to stir tensions, and said the "reckless military provocations" could trigger armed clashes.
The NLL was drawn up unilaterally by United Nations forces at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The North has never recognised it and wants it drawn further to the south.
The clash, which occurred at 11.28 am (0228 GMT) near Daechong island, came amid peace feelers from the communist state after months of hostility marked by missile test-launches and a nuclear test.
The North has since August put out peace feelers both to South Korea and the United States.
It freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operations of a joint industrial estate, sent envoys for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak and allowed a family reunion programme to resume.
The North has also invited US special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang for talks on ending the standoff about its nuclear weapons programme. Washington was expected to decide soon to go ahead with the trip.
Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor at Dongguk University, said he thought it likely the incident was an intentional provocation from the North because the boat ignored warnings from the South.
"This might be an intentional clash aimed at heightening tension ahead of Obama's trip," Kim told YTN.
"I believe North Korea is trying to show Obama the volatility of the peninsula. North Korea has demanded a peace pact be signed with the US to replace the truce agreement (which ended the 1950-53 war)."

by josephpatrol Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:40 am

Warships of the two Koreas exchange fire

Pyongyang wants apology after its boat is forced to limp back home

November 11, 2009


	South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, center in a suit, is flanked by military generals as he enters the office of the Liberty Forward Party in Seoul to brief lawmakers about the latest clash. By Kim Kyung-bin

The two Koreas yesterday engaged in their first naval clash on the west coast in seven years after a North Korean ship crossed the sea border. The damaged North Korean vessel was forced back, and Pyongyang demanded an apology from Seoul. No South Korean casualties or injuries were immediately reported.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said a North Korean patrol boat and a South Korean navy ship exchanged fire for about two minutes after the North�s ship crossed the Northern Limit Line at 11:27 a.m.

According to the JCS, the North vessel traveled 1.2 miles south of the border, about 6.3 miles east of a western island of Daecheong.

The South�s Navy issued two warnings before the North crossed the NLL and then three more later. The North�s ship ignored the warnings and continued southward. The South fired warning shots, though not directly at the North�s ship. The JCS said the North fired back directly at the South Korean ship, which then returned fire. According to military officials, the North�s vessel was damaged and returned north of the border on its own at 11:40 a.m. The South Korean Navy vessel took 15 shots for only minor damage.

Rear Admiral Lee Ki-sik, head of the intelligence and operations department at the JCS, said this was �a regrettable incident� in which the North directly targeted the South after the South�s warnings. �We take a great exception to this event and we urge North Korea to prevent a recurrence,� Lee said. He said that North Korea has crossed the NLL 22 times this year alone. This was the first time South Korea fired warning shots.

In a statement issued on the North�s state-run Korean Central News Agency, the supreme military command in Pyongyang called the South Korean action �a grave armed provocation� and urged Seoul to �take a responsible measure against the recurrence of a similar provocation.�

The South Korean government scrambled to determine North Korean intentions behind the latest border violation. According to Blue House spokesman Park Sun-kyoo, President Lee Myung-bak was briefed on the situation around 11:45 a.m. and then called an emergency national security ministers meeting at 1:30 p.m.

Lee Dong-kwan, the president�s senior public affairs secretary, said the meeting lasted for about an hour, and the participants assessed details regarding the skirmish and its impact on inter-Korean relations.

�In order to prevent public uneasiness, the military must perfect its readiness,� President Lee was quoted as saying in his phone call to Defense Minister Kim Tae-young shortly after he was briefed. �We must calmly and resolutely address the situation in order to prevent it from worsening.�

The incident came just eight days before U.S. President Barack Obama�s scheduled visit to South Korea for a summit with President Lee. The U.S. is also considering a possible bilateral meeting with North Korea over the nuclear standoff, with officials in Washington and South Korea saying an announcement of the decision to send a U.S. delegation to Pyongyang is imminent.

The North has had a tendency to raise tension prior to major events. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said he believes North Korea may be trying to show that for all its apparent willingness to engage in multilateral talks, it can always return to a hostile stance.


	A file photo from the inter-Korean naval clash on the west coast in June 1999 shows the South Korean Navy boat Chamsuri, on the right, fighting a North Korean ship. The same vessel was used by the South Korean Navy yesterday in a skirmish against the North on the west coast. [JoongAng Ilbo]

�North Korea is assuming an aggressive stance to prove that they won�t back down,� he said.

Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korean studies professor at Korea University, said the North may believe raising tension �would help them up the ante and improve their bargaining power� at the negotiating table.

While Washington hesitated in sending officials to negotiate, the North has appeared impatient. Last Tuesday, it declared that it had successfully reprocessed spent fuel rods to generate more plutonium for atomic weapons. The United States has insisted that its goal was to persuade the North to return to the six-party talks for multilateral discussions on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang, on the other hand, wants to deal exclusively with Washington on the matter.

The two Koreas had twice before engaged in naval clashes near Yeonpyeong Island on the west coast. On June 15, 1999, North Korea first fired shots at the South Korean side, but ultimately lost 30 lives along with 10 vessels in just 14 minutes. No South Koreans were killed but nine were injured. In the second skirmish on June 29, 2002, six South Korean soldiers died and 18 were injured in a 25-minute battle. North Korea lost 13 soldiers, with 25 injured.

In September 1999, about three months after the first incident near Yeonpyeong, the North declared the NLL invalid as a sea border on the grounds that it was unilaterally established by U.S. forces after the end of the Korean War in 1953. The North made a similar declaration in March 2000 and then again last January.

In October, North Korea accused the South of frequently violating the NLL and warned that it would take military action if such moves continued. The North Korean Navy argued that Seoul had been carrying out �premeditated moves to deliberately escalate tension in the waters ... and deteriorate North-South relations once again.�

Seoul officials scoffed at the notion.

by airlinehunk24 Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:16 pm

tnx for the info, even for now to all kabayan ingat po sa kumakalat na sunjang virus or flu our boss told us awhile ago that keep ur hand alwys clean.....keep safe to all

by yeeun Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:10 am

its sinjong flu po..yeah ingat po lahat dame n dn d2 same..d2 s jincheon..i wear mask lalo n s madameng tao..ingat n lng po..ang take note ang singer n si 이 승기 Lee Seunggi..may sinjong flu n rn..so wlang pnipili..ingat po

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putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)

putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)

warships of the north and south korea exchange fire

Re: putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)

Re: putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)

Re: putukan sa pagitang ng 2 battleship ng south korea at north korea as of november 10 (11am dis morning)