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Old 01-27-2010, 06:42 PM   #1
AgowlSown

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Default Alert: Prelude to NEW KOREAN WAR - border artillery exchange today
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/...tvcmVhc2tvcmVh


NKorea, SKorea exchange fire near disputed border
AP

Koreas exchange fire along disputed border Play Video AP – Koreas exchange fire along disputed border

* NKorea calls for peace talks, end to sanctions Play Video Video:NKorea calls for peace talks, end to sanctions AP
* N Korea returning to the table? Play Video Video:N Korea returning to the table? Reuters

South Korean Navy patrol boats ride at anchors at a naval base in Incheon, west AP – South Korean Navy patrol boats ride at anchors at a naval base in Incheon, west of Seoul, South Korea, …
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – 45 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired artillery rounds toward its disputed sea border with South Korea on Wednesday, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South's military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula.

No casualties or damage were reported, and analysts said the volley — which the North announced was part of a military drill — was likely a move by Pyongyang to highlight the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its western coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The North said it would continue to fire rounds.

He said the North's artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South fired into the air. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy.

The western sea border — drawn by the American-led U.N. Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War — is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas, with the North insisting the line be moved farther south.

Navy ships of the two Koreas fought a brief gunbattle in November that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. They engaged in similar bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.

North Korea issued a statement later Wednesday saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so.

Such drills "will go on in the same waters in the future," the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The North fired more shots later Wednesday, but South Korea didn't respond, a Defense Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity due to department policy.

The exchange of fire came two days after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean-held waters, through March 29.

The North has sent a series of mixed signals to the South recently, combining offers of dialogue on economic cooperation with military threats, including one this month to destroy South Korea's presidential palace. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, meanwhile, angered Pyongyang by saying Seoul's military should launch a pre-emptive strike if there was a clear indication the North was preparing a nuclear attack.

South Korea's Defense Ministry sent the North's military a message Wednesday expressing serious concern about the firing and saying it fostered "unnecessary tension" between the two sides.

It also urged the North to retract the no-sail zones, calling them a "grave provocation" and a violation of the Korean War armistice. The war ended with a truce, but not a formal peace treaty.

Separately, South Korea's point man on North Korea criticized Pyongyang for raising tension near the sea border.

"This kind of North Korean attitude is quite disappointing," Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told a security forum in Seoul.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it was the first time that North Korea has fired artillery toward the sea border. The Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said the North Korean artillery shells were believed to have fallen into the no-sail zones about 1.75 miles (3 kilometers) north of the maritime border.

Top South Korean presidential secretary Chung Chung-kil convened an emergency meeting of security-related officials on behalf of President Lee Myung-bak, who was making a state visit to India, according to the presidential Blue House. It said Lee was informed of the incident.

Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in South Korea, said the North's action was aimed at highlighting the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War by showing that the peninsula is still a war zone.

"It's applying pressure on the U.S. and South Korea," Yoo said. He said North Korea also was expressing anger over South Korea's lukewarm response to a series of recent gestures seeking dialogue.

Earlier this month, North Korea called for the signing of a peace treaty and the lifting of sanctions as conditions for its return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks it quit last year.

The U.S. and South Korea, however, brushed aside the North's demands, saying they can happen only after it returns to the disarmament negotiations and reports progress in denuclearization.

Despite the exchange of fire, the capitals of the two Koreas were calm.

North Koreans in Pyongyang wearing thick winter coats walked briskly through the streets while a female police officer directed traffic and a crowded tram passed by, according to footage shot by broadcaster APTN.

The military tensions had little effect on South Korean financial markets. Seoul's benchmark stock index fell less than 1 percent, while South Korea's currency, the won, rose against the U.S. dollar.

___

Associated Press writer Yewon Kang contributed to this report.
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Old 01-27-2010, 06:47 PM   #2
amimabremiBit

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AFP
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Two Koreas exchange fire near sea border: officials
SEOUL, Jan 27, 2010 (AFP) - North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire Wednesday near their disputed sea border, Seoul officials said, less than three months after a naval firefight broke out along the flashpoint frontier. The North's land-based artillery batteries fired intermittently for more than an hour into the sea north of the borderline, the defence ministry said.

"Our military fired warning shots with our Vulcan cannons and sent out radio warnings," a spokeswoman told AFP. No one was hurt but the incident further raised tensions along the border, which was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002. The latest firefight on November 10 left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. The firing came a day after the communist North declared two "no sail zones", extending into the South's waters, around the borderline.

Yonhap news agency said the North's shells landed near the South Korean-controlled island of Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea. It said Marines based on the island responded by firing about 100 rounds from Vulcan cannons with a range of 3-4 kilometres (1.8-2.5 miles). "When the North fired, some 20-30 columns of water shot up into the sky," the agency quoted one source as saying.

The western sea border has been a constant source of tension since it was drawn by United Nations forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North insists it should run further south. The two sides have remained technically at war since the conflict ended without a formal peace treaty. On Tuesday Seoul officials said the North had declared a two-month ban on shipping in two zones, raising speculation about military exercises or missile launches.

South Korea called an emergency meeting of security and other ministers. "North Korea will likely continue such low-intensity military provocations like this in the next few months," Baek Seung-Joo, of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, told AFP. "But it is unlikely to take things to the extreme, as in general it wants to maintain economic cooperations with South Korea," he said, adding it wants to avoid naval clashes since its ships are outgunned.

The sanctions-hit North has sent mixed messages to its neighbour in recent months. It is pressing to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South, while its military at the same time has issued threats of war. Pyongyang also demands talks with the United States on a formal peace treaty before returning to nuclear disarmament negotiations. The November clash broke out when a North Korean patrol boat crossed the border and refused to turn back despite warnings, according to Seoul.

The firefight left the North's boat retreating in flames and one South Korean craft with bullet holes in its hull. There was no information on North Korean casualties, while the South's crewmen were unhurt. Last month the North warned South Korean ships to avoid the border area, saying its coastal artillery would stage firing exercises in response to "reckless military provocations." On Sunday the military lashed out at South Korea's vow to launch a preemptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack, calling it "an open declaration of war."

On January 15 the North threatened to cut off exchanges with the South and launch a possible "holy war." It was responding angrily to media reports that the South has drawn up a contingency plan for regime collapse in Pyongyang. "The North feels it necessary to flex its military muscle to show its warning is not merely empty rhetoric," said Koh Yu-hwan of Seoul's Dongguk University. The military is also angry about its defeat in the last naval clash, he said. Koh said South Korea's response would determine whether the flare-up escalated. "South Korea has been annoying the North unnecessarily with indiscreet remarks and press leaks."

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Old 01-29-2010, 04:48 PM   #3
AgowlSown

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ONCE MORE TODAY:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/...us_korea_north


North Korea fires more artillery towards South

By Jack Kim Jack Kim – 34 mins ago

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired artillery toward a disputed sea border with its southern neighbor for the third straight day on Friday in a move seen by the South's president as a ploy by Pyongyang to put pressure on regional powers.

President Lee Myung-bak also said the North's troubled economy was reeling under U.N. sanctions to punish its nuclear test last year, but he added that the destitute state was nowhere near collapse and leader Kim Jong-il was firmly in charge.

"There was the sound of about 20 artillery rounds above North Korean waters near (the South's) Yeonpyeong island," an official with the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said by telephone.

The North has fed hundreds of rounds of artillery this week in the direction of a disputed naval border with the South that landed in the North's waters. The firing along the heavily armed border lined with thousands of artillery pieces has not resulted in any injuries or damage.

Markets were spooked when the North began the live-fire artillery exercise on Wednesday and by Seoul's decision to return fire. Shares in Seoul briefly retreated and the won fell against the dollar, but the moves were quickly reversed.

Market players said the subsequent days of artillery shooting have not had any significant impact on trading but served as a reminder of the risks of investing on the troubled peninsula.

Lee said the North may be firing to press its demands for talks on a peace deal with Washington to formally end the Korean War as a condition for it to end its year-long boycott of nuclear disarmament discussions.

"It's being pushed hard to come to the six-way talks, and it could be a strategy to reach a peace treaty," Lee said. "But this is simply not a very good method."

The North has demanded talks with the United States to reach a peace treaty to replace the armistice that halted hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, which would then allow it to tap international financial institutions for aid.

ARMS AND PEACE

The United States has said a peace treaty is only possible when the North ends its atomic ambitions, but that it can discuss the deal within the six-way nuclear talks that also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

The U.S.-led United Nations forces signed the armistice at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War with North Korea and China.

"If a peace treaty is concluded through negotiations, confidence will be built between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. to put an end to the hostile relations and give a strong impetus to the denuclearization of the peninsula," the North's ruling party newspaper said in a commentary.

The North's wobbly economy was hit by currency controls its leaders imposed at the end of last year that sparked inflation, greatly decreased the purchasing power of its impoverished people and reportedly sparked unrest.

"Economically the North Korean society is faced with great difficulties, but that's something that's been going on for some time," Lee said in Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.

"So we don't see that the North is in an extreme situation or on the verge of collapse," said Lee, in an interview with the BBC that was made available by Lee's office in Seoul on Friday.

The North's reclusive leader Kim disappeared from public view in late 2008 and resurfaced months later from a suspected stroke, looking gaunt and markedly thinner, but South Korean officials have said his grip on power has remained firm.

Meeting China's premier in October, Kim said his country was willing to return to aid-for-disarmament talks, but only if the conditions were right.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Shin Ji-eun; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and David Fox)
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