-Caveat Lector- S. Korea Sinks N. Korean Ship By REID G. MILLER .c The Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean warships sank one North Korean boat and badly damaged at least one other in an exchange of gunfire Tuesday. The 10-minute clash was a dangerous escalation of their high-seas confrontation over a rich crab fishing area in the Yellow Sea. The sunken ship was believed to be a torpedo boat and a northern patrol boat appeared to be sinking after being raked by South Korean fire, said Col. Hwang Dong-kyu, a spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea said one of its ships had been sunk and three others badly damaged. The north's state-run Korean Central News Agency called the shooting a ``deliberate and planned'' provocation ``aimed at driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.'' South Korean Brig. Gen. Cha Young-koo said fighting erupted after southern patrol boats twice tried to chase two northern patrol boats away. When one of the southern boats tried to ram a northern torpedo boat, the North Korean vessel opened fire, he said. ``All responsibility lies on the North Korean side,'' Cha said. Hwang said seven South Korean sailors were injured when their ships, a frigate and a patrol boat, were hit by northern fire. The two ships were not disabled. North Korean warships have been sailing in and out of the disputed zone in the Yellow Sea since June 8, in what appeared to be a move to guard its crab fishing boats. The disputed waters lie midway between the North Korean mainland and five South Korean islands, 60 miles northwest of Seoul. The zone is within the territorial waters - 12 nautical miles - of both sides. Hwang said all five remaining North Korean vessels returned to their own waters after the shooting. There was no word on North Korean casualties. South Korean defense ministry officials said they believed the ship that sank was an 80-ton Soviet-designed P-6 torpedo ship and the damaged boat was a 400-ton Taechong 2 patrol boat. North Korea's state news agency demanded an immediate South Korean apology for what it said was ``an unbearable insult and military challenge'' to the North. The shooting came only 40 minutes before generals from the U.S.-led U.N. Command and North Korea sat down in the border village of Panmunjom for talks aimed at ending the confrontation, now in its 8th day. A northern general ``lodged a strong protest ... against military provocations being committed by South Korean naval vessels,'' the northern news agency said. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said the Clinton administration was monitoring the situation. ``There are military-to-military talks going on today to discuss this situation and we are in close touch with the South Korean government regarding the steps they are taking in response,'' Crowley said. The United States has about 37,000 troops in South Korea, but there was no change in their alert status. North Korea agreed to the meeting after four of its patrol boats were rammed and briefly repelled by South Korean naval vessels in the first violent confrontation last Friday. Tuesday's exchange began after four North Korean patrol boats moved back into the disputed waters shortly after daybreak, escorting about 20 fishing boats, the Defense Ministry said. They were later joined by the torpedo boats. North Korea has contested the sea border since the late 1970s, sending fishing boats and naval ships into the zone 20 to 30 times a year. But when challenged by South Korean patrol boats, they usually have withdrawn quickly. The Korea peninsula was divided into communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea in 1945. They are technically still at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The armistice, signed by the U.N. Command and North Korea, never outlined the maritime border. But the U.N. Command unilaterally demarcated the sea frontier in 1953 and created a buffer zone south of it to avoid armed clashes. The standoff overshadows vice-ministerial talks between the two rival Korean states, to be held in Beijing next week to discuss aid and reunions of separated families in the divided Korean Peninsula. The talks are the first government-level contact between the two Koreas in 14 months. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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