YONHAP NEWS

(2nd LD) President calls emergency meeting of security ministers over naval clash

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak told the military Tuesday to maintain calm, asking it to ensure that a naval clash with North Korea does not develop into a worsening situation, his senior secretary said.

Convening an emergency meeting of security-related ministers immediately after being told of the skirmish off the west coast, Lee called Defense Minister Kim Tae-young.

"The president instructed the military to react decisively, yet calmly to make sure the situation does not further deteriorate," Lee Dong-kwan, a senior secretary to the president for public relations, said in a statement.

   The security ministers' meeting largely focused on the impact Tuesday's clash will have on inter-Korean relations, according to the Cheong Wa Dae official.

   The armed clash erupted shortly after 11:30 a.m. in what Seoul's Prime Minister Chung Un-chan characterized as an "accidental" clash.

   "Today's clash took place as the North Korean side disregarded our verbal warnings and warning shots and directly attacked our speedboats," the prime minister said while answering questions at a parliamentary interpellation session.

   "It was an accidental clash, so we ask the people to have confidence in our military and government and carry on with their daily lives as usual," he said.

   South Korea will continue exchanges with North Korea as usual, keeping its border open to local workers traveling to the North and proceeding with planned humanitarian aid, officials said. The calm response contrasted with hard-line steps Seoul had taken in response to Pyongyang's long-range rocket and nuclear tests in the spring, such as a blanket ban on trips by aid workers and other non-governmental figures to the North.

   "With regard to this incident, there are no restrictive measures, such as minimizing the number of visitors to the North and other artificial control measures, under consideration," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.

   Some trips were, however, voluntarily canceled. Several aid workers and staff from the South Korean branch of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization postponed their trip to Pyongyang for security concerns, officials said.

   South Korea sustained no casualties from the two-minute skirmish that occurred near Baengnyeong Island. But the North Korean patrol boat apparently suffered "considerable" damage before retreating, according to the South Korean navy. The extent of possible casualties in the North was not immediately known.

   Bloody skirmishes occurred at the Yellow Sea border in 1999 and 2002, claiming scores of lives on both sides.

   bdk@yna.co.kr
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