Tuesday, November 10, 2009

KOREA - Naval Skirmish between North and South



North Korean Navy

Today, at 11:28 local time, two naval ships from North and South Korea
began shooting at each other. The North Korean ship is reporting "heavy
losses" while the South Korean vessel seems to have no casualties at all.
[Chinese source]

The last incident of that kind took place some years ago.

This comes while Obama is decided to send a high-ranking diplomat to
North Korea for direct talks on the nuclear issue. [Washington Post]

UPDATE on November 11/14:
There were three North Korean vessels and six South Korean warships on the scene. Two South Korean "patrol ships" (1.200 tons) and four "speed boats" (150 tons), all equipped with automatic cannons, were thus opposing three North Korean "garrison ships" (80, 130, 420 tons), all equipped with manual weapons. During the incident, it was the 130 tons North Korean garrison ship (Chinese "Shanghai class") that finally caught fire. Some days later, the North Korean side stated its firm will to resort to "severe measures" in order to protect its frontier aereas, and South Korea would have to pay a "high price" for that recent attack. [Source: People's Daily, Chinese online edition]

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