From M_ON@RIEM.COM
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 11:34:11 -0700
From: MARK 
To: moogoonghwa@UCSD.EDU
Subject: RE:Submarine infiltration incident

This was published on Reuters today. 

(Adds night curfew, details of 11 "suicide" victims, speculation
infiltrators may have escaped dragnet)
   By Yun Suk-bong
   KANGNUNG, South Korea, Sept 20 (Reuter) - South Korean troops using
loudhailers pleaded on Friday with the remnants of a North Korean
infiltration group to surrender, while the United States urged "all
parties" to stay calm.
   Troops blasted the message to a half dozen or so agents they believe
may be holed up in a rugged mountain area pitted with disused coal
mines.
   Helicopters scattered leaflets urging surrender, but by nightfall
there was no response and a curfew was imposed until dawn. 
   There was even speculation the highly-trained operatives may have
slipped through a cordon of thousands of troops and police and could be
on their way home.
   "You are surrounded. If you abandon your weapons and surrender you
can live. Most of your colleagues have been shot to death. We urge you
to surrender immediately," an army officer shouted through a loudhailer
on a military jeep.
   Authorities now believe possibly 26 North Koreans came ashore early
on Wednesday from a submarine near the east coast city of Kangnung. So
far, 18 have been shot and killed and one has been captured alive.
   Political shockwaves from the incident -- one of the deadliest
infiltrations of the South since the early Cold War -- spread wider,
clouding prospects for a U.S.-South Korean peace initiative for the
divided Korean peninsula.
   North and South Korea have been technically at war since their
1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice negotiated by U.S.-led United
Nations forces.
   In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher urged "all
parties" to avoid further provocative action. Seoul said it would brief
the U.N. Security Council on the drama and Japan denounced the incident
as "deplorable".
   North Korea accused South Korea of taking "provocative action" near
the border earlier this week but made no reference to the submarine
incident in a radio broadcast.
   Christopher told a news conference: "We wish that all parties would
refrain from taking further provocative actions." The United States has
37,000 troops stationed in the South to deter any North Korean attack.
   Japan hit out at its close neighbour across the sea.
   "We have an interest in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula
and it is deplorable that North Korea has brought about this incident,"
government spokesman Seiroku Kajiyama told a news conference.
   "The international community will not accept it. We call on North
Korea to immediately end these kinds of actions".
   Political analysts said the incident may have damaged the chances of
peace on the Korean peninsula by giving ammunition to hardliners in
Seoul, who oppose any concessions to the North.
   South Korea and the United States are trying to entice Pyongyang to
talks, along with China, to work out a peace pact to replace the
armistice.
   A South Korean foreign ministry statement said Seoul's ambassador to
the United Nations would brief members of the Security Council on
Friday.
   The infiltration was "an obvious violation of the armistice agreement
and a grave threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula", the
statement said.
   South Korea is one of 15 members of the Security Council, whose
permanent members are the United States, China, Russia, Britain and
France.
   Media reports said the captured man told interrogators 26 North
Koreans landed. Three were saboteurs -- trained to survive behind enemy
lines and cover huge distances on foot -- and they were still at large,
Lee Kwang-soo reportedly said.
   South Korea's spy chief said the saboteurs could have murdered 11 of
their collegues, whose bodies were found on top of a mountain on
Wednesday. At the time, authorities said they had committed suicide
rather than risk capture.
   Kwon Young-hae, the Director of the Agency for National Security
Planning, was quoted by newspapers as telling a parliamentary committee
some of the 11 were killed by bullets fired from behind, suggesting
execution-style death.
   Security experts suggested the saboteurs sacrificed their comrades so
they could move faster and to distract pursuers.
   The infiltrators appeared to have been sent "not for simple espionage
or reconnaissance missions but for special duties such as guerilla
warfare", Kwon said.
   In case they evaded the dragnet around the mines, troops were lying
in ambush along roads and mountain passes leading to North Korea, a
defence ministry official in Kangnung said.

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Friday, 20 September 1996 14:12:45
ENDS [nSEO1737]





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