Korean Yellow Sea Naval
Clash — 29 June 2002

Columnist Col (Retd) EAS BOKHARI analyses the recent sea clash between the two Koreas.

The North Korean relations with South Korea have not been all too enviable in spite of the ‘Armistice Agreement’ between these two neighbouring countries. And surely North has never missed an opportunity of making mischief, and the recent World Cup FIFA Championship which had been so well co-hosted by South Korea and Japan provided an opportunity to the North Korea which they could never afford to miss.
And as the world press has indicated two North Korean patrol ships crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on the Yellow Sea and attacked South Korean speed boats, PKM (Patrol Killer Medium). As a result of this surprise attack, four South Korean (ROK) crewmen were killed, one is missing and 19 were injured. One South Korean PKM sank. One North Korean patrol ship was destroyed and many crewmen were injured.
Broadly, and in military terms the sequence of events was something like this:
At about 0954 hours on 29 June, a North Korean patrol ship crossed 1.8 nautical miles across the NLL 7 nautical miles from Yeonpyong-do. Four ROK speed boats approached the North Koreans and demanded for their retrieval and warned them of the intrusion. The North Koreans totally ignored the warning and started moving further west, and at 10:10, another North Korean patrol ship crossed the NLL seven miles west of the first ship.
Two ROK PKMs were sent into action in the area and they repeated the warnings to the intruders. At about 1025 hours with about 500 yards distance between the ROK speed boat and the second North Korean patrol ship, (already three miles south of NLL), the North Korean patrol ship started firing its main gun (85mm) and other weapons at the ROK PKM.
Naturally, the two ROK vessels retaliated with all their 40 and 30mm weapons, and were later joined in by the other two also at 1035 hours. The gun fire lasted for about twenty minutes. The North Korean assets of whatever was left of them retrieved to the North at around 1050 hours almost limping at 8 knots. ROK crewmen claim that about 30 North Koreans were injured, and their firearms were nearly destroyed.
It was a serious North Korean incursion and South took all necessary measures, and even the South Korean Defence Minister issued a statement at 1709 hours denouncing and warning North Korea on their actions and demanding apology. The minister also urged that such attacks should not occur again. Even the UN Command (UNC) sent a message to North at 1547 hours proposing a General Officer Level Talks at Panmunjom to discuss the North Korea’s actions.
From all the evidence that is available it appears that the North Korean patrol ships had crossed the NLL in a direct violation of the Military Armistice Agreement of 1953. In this context, it is a serious issue as it will surely hamper the reconciliatory and cooperative atmosphere since the Inter-Korean Summit Talks and unnecessarily heighten tension on the Korean peninsula.
From the available evidence and the mode of North Korean attack it is almost certain that the engagement was intentional and pre-meditated and the North Koreans have been preparing for this provocation. The following facts go to strengthen this hypothesis:

* An 85mm gun, the strongest fire power on the North Korean patrol boat made a direct hit on the steering room of the ROK-PKM. This must have been planned.
* Two North Korean patrol boats simultaneously crossed the NLL and initiated a surprise attack against a rear ROK PKM.

* North Koreans immediately refused to comply to South Korean proposals for talks at General Officers level.

North Korean’s provocation, blatant as it was, it could possibly be due to the following:

* It could have been a retaliatory effort to wipe out the utter defeat of the North Korean military regime in the sea battle at Yeon-Pyung in 1999.
* This mischievous incursion was probably planned to interfere with the successful and festive mood of South Korea during the FIFA World Cup 2002 and degrade the national unity of South Korea. As is known North Korea has failed to attract much attention in the Arirang Festival held in Pyongyang from 29 April to 29 June.

* This provocation could also be related to North Korea’s intention to retain initiatives on further South, North Korean and US-North relations. Or again, the provocation was to make US proposed discussion agenda ambiguous and gain advantage for negotiations before US President’s Special Envoy’s meeting with North Korean officials.

* To undermine the legitimacy of the NLL.

Under the prevailing conditions as these were, I suppose the ROK response has been pragmatic and South Korea has demanded that North Korea offer a formal apology, and offer assurances that such incidents will never recur.
And finally this incident has brought to fore that the ROK naval personnel are fully trained and in this particular combat although they were surprised, they displayed courage and strength of will to beat back the intruders. It has come out that the ROK troops fired all the 1,500 rounds of the ammunition which they had on board in this short action.
“The NLL on the Yellow Sea has been maintained as a maritime boundary line between South and North Koreans since 1953, and has been reaffirmed via Article II of the S-N Basic Agreement of 1992. It is without question that the NLL continues to play its practical role as a maritime military demarcation line.” The ROK has shown professional stubbornness as is indicated by the Rok stand: “Through this incident, we were able to reaffirm that there must not be even the smallest level of vulnerability in our readiness posture... We also confirmed our basic mission to accomplish the task assigned to us through strong determination and spirit, and unified comradeship....”