North Korea threatens South over naval clash

The two Koreas clashed at sea Tuesday for the first time in seven years, with each side accusing the other of violating the disputed western sea border and firing first. The fighting came ahead of a planned visit to South Korea next week by President Barack Obama.

South Korean officials claimed victory, saying a North Korean ship suffered heavy damage during the two-minute battle. They said a South Korean ship was lightly damaged and there were no casualties on their side.

A senior military officer told The Associated Press on Wednesday that one North Korean officer was killed and three others wounded. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involved intelligence.

On Thursday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary that it will not tolerate what it claimed was South Korea's dispatch of navy ships into its territorial waters and firing at a North Korean vessel.

"Our unchanged principle is no forgiveness and merciless punishment for warmongers who infringe upon our republic's dignity and sovereignty," said the commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It didn't specify how the North would punish the South.

Anther state newspaper, Minju Joson, also warned that South Korea would face "costly consequences." It said the clash stemmed from a plot by the South to disrupt direct talks that are planned between Pyongyang and Washington by inspiring anti-North Korea sentiment among American officials.

Obama, due to arrive in Seoul on Nov. 18 amid a regional visit, plans to send a senior envoy to Pyongyang by year's end for the first direct talks between the wartime foes during his administration. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Singapore on Wednesday that the skirmish would not scuttle a planned visit to Pyongyang by special envoy Stephen Bosworth.

Bosworth's trip is aimed at persuading communist North Korea to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations. North Korea walked away from those talks earlier this year.

South Korean officials shrugged off the North's threats, saying they were ready to deter any aggression.

"We will resolutely safeguard the NLL," a Defense Ministry official said, referring to the Northern Limit Line, a de facto western sea border drawn up by the U.N. command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North has long insisted it be redrawn further south.

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