Text Fwd: N. Korea calls naval skirmish 'provocation' by South Korean military

* Yonhap News
(2nd LD) N. Korea calls naval skirmish 'provocation' by South Korean military
By Kim Hyun and Tony Chang

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea charged Thursday that a recent naval skirmish in the Yellow Sea was a "premeditated provocation" by the South who will be forced to "pay dearly" for the attempt to thwart the current mood for dialogue.

The navies of the Koreas exchanged gunfire along their western sea border on Tuesday, the first such incident in seven years. There were no South Korean casualties, but North Korea reportedly suffered one death and three of its sailors were wounded.

"Nobody can deny the fact that the armed provocation perpetrated by (the South) again in the West Sea is nothing but a deliberate and vicious move for increasing the tension and a dangerous war action of those much upset by the trend of the situation on the peninsula," Rodong Sinmun, a major North Korean newspaper published by the Workers' Party, said in a commentary. The article was carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.

"The south Korean forces will be forced to pay dearly for the grave armed provocation," it said.

The two-minute battle erupted near midday Tuesday when a North Korean patrol boat crossed over the Northern Limit Line, the de facto border in the Yellow Sea, and responded to a warning shot with about 50 rounds. The South Korean vessel then opened fire and the North's boat retreated in flames, according to South Korean military officials.

North Korea gave a different account just hours after the incident. The Supreme Command of the North's Korean People's Army, chaired by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, demanded an apology from Seoul, saying South Korea initiated the skirmish against the patrol boat while it was on routine duty.

The boat was sailing to confirm an unidentified object that had intruded into North Korean waters, the command claimed. The report did not say what the object was.

Reiterating claims that South Korea initiated the incident, the Rodong Sinmun accused the South Korean military and conservatives of "collusion with outside forces while hamstringing the efforts to improve the inter-Korean relations."

"The artillery pieces of the KPA (Korean People's Army" convinced of justice and afire with hatred are now leveled at the provokers," the commentary said.

"The south Korean military had better face up to the trend of the times and behave itself."

The gunfire occurred ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's tour of Asia next week, which includes a stop in Seoul, and an expected trip to Pyongyang within this year by Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy.

Also, high-level officials between the Koreas recently met in a North Korean border town to facilitate inter-Korean dialogue, according to sources in Seoul