SEOUL, July 1: South Korea and the United States agreed on Monday to increase military surveillance of North Korea and strengthen rules of engagement after Saturday’s bloody naval clash between the two Koreas, the South’s defence ministry said.
South Korea has enhanced security after two North Korean patrol ships sailed over the disputed sea border and fired on its boats, killing four and wounding 19 South Korean sailors.
Both sides blame the other for sparking the clash, the worst such incident in three years. It was not clear how many North Korean casualties there were.
The North Korean boat wrecked by South Korea’s counter-attack completely lost its functions and was towed away from the scene by another North Korean patrol boat, the defence ministry said.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Dong-shin met the commander-in-chief of U.S. forces, General Leon LaPorte, on Monday afternoon and asked for his cooperation in revising military rules to minimise casualties and damage sustained in any fighting with North Korea, a defence ministry spokesman said.
LaPorte is also chief of combined South Korean-U.S. forces.
“They discussed ways to streamline the process of firing at the enemy, when we’re threatened seriously,” the spokesman told Reuters by telephone.
Under existing rules, the South Korean navy have to go through a five-phase process to fire at an enemy, and are not supposed to begin firing unless attacked, the spokesman said.
The United States has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea to help deter North Korea from repeating a 1950 invasion that started the three-year Korean War.
U.S. forces will step up monitoring of North Korea, LaPorte told Kim. They are likely to send more patrol planes near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) bisecting the Korean peninsula, to catch North Korea’s moves in advance, the spokesman said.
Separately, U.S. military officials are liaising with South and North Korean officials to set up a special general-level meeting on the incident at Panmunjom truce village in the DMZ.
It is not yet clear when or if that meeting will be held.
The United States has condemned the naval clash as a provocation by the North and a senior U.S. official said Washington might delay sending a proposed delegation to North Korea for talks.
SUNSHINE POLICY: The meeting between the two allies took place while President Kim Dae-jung met Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Japan to discuss the incident after attending Sunday’s World Cup final, in which Brazil beat Germany 2-0.
President Kim, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reconcile with North Korea, told Koizumi he would press ahead with his ‘Sunshine Policy’ of engaging the Communist North despite the deadly naval clash, Japanese officials said.
“We will maintain our engagement policy,” a Japanese official quoted Kim as saying. Koizumi voiced full support for Kim’s engagement policy toward the North, the official said.
President Kim, is expected to return to Seoul on Tuesday and address his people by television about the incident.
After heart-rending military funerals for the victims of the clash were held in South Korea on Monday, Seoul’s unification minister also said Seoul would continue to pursue dialogue with the North and inter-Korean economic exchanges.
“The inter-Korean relations are likely to be strained after the incident, but I don’t think that will last long,” a ministry spokesman quoted Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun as saying at a meeting with ruling party officials.—Reuter/AFP