DPRK Blames US for Armed Clash on Yellow Sea

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 02, 2002

DPRK Blames US for Armed Clash on Yellow Sea

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has blamed the United States for the armed clash last Saturday between DPRK and South Korean warships on the Yellow Sea, and reaffirmed the illegality of the "northern boundary line."

In an interview with the Korean Central News Agency on Monday, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of putting new obstacles in the way of the inter-Korean relationship, and calling white black in the case of the armed clash.

The United States, which has the supreme command over the SouthKorean forces, can never shake off the responsibility for the intrusion and provocation by the South Korean warships, the spokesman said.

The DPRK blamed South Korea for causing the armed clash, claiming that the South Korean fleet and more than 10 fishing boats intruded into the territorial waters of the DPRK, to the southwest of Yonpyong Island in the Yellow Sea, and fired at the DPRK People's Navy which was on a regular guard mission.

Reports said four South Korean servicemen were dead, one was missing and 19 others were injured when the DPRK and South Korean navies exchanged fire.

"All facts clearly prove that the incident was orchestrated by the United States to drive a wedge between North and South of Korea because it is displeased with the progress made in the inter-Korean relations, and it tries to put a brake on it from the outset," the spokesman said.

Third parties concerned with peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula should pay attention to the illegality of the "northern boundary line" before making indiscreet remarks, he added.

The "northern boundary line," the inter-Korean maritime border around the Yonpyong Island in the Yellow Sea, was unilaterally drawn by the United States and South Korea in the 1950s to preventalleged attacks from the DPRK. The DPRK government has never admitted the line as a legal border.

"The issue of sovereignty is quite different from the issue of dialogue," the spokesman said.

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