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Naval battle may be tied to Obama’s visit to S. Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — The navies of North and South Korea clashed at sea Tuesday for the first time in seven years in what some analysts said was a provocation by the communist nation a week before President Barack Obama’s two-day visit to Seoul starting Nov. 18. The North Korean ship retreated in flames, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un Chan said, and the South’s YTN television reported that one North Korean officer was killed and three other sailors were wounded. There were no South Korean casualties, the military said. Chung told lawmakers that North Korean ships violated the South’s waters, though probably not intentionally. He said the North Koreans may have been clamping down on Chinese fishing vessels operating in the area. But Shin Yul, a political science professor at Seoul’s Myongji University, said, "It was an intentional provocation by North Korea to draw attention ahead of Obama’s trip." He also said the North was saying it wants to replace the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 with a permanent peace treaty while keeping its nuclear weapons. — The Associated Press
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