ROK's Position Regarding the Military Provocation Caused
by the Infiltration of a North Korean Submarine
At approximately 0200 hours on September 18th, 1996 a North Korean submarine was found to have infiltrated the territory of the Republic of Korea, coming aground along the coast of the East Sea at 37 degrees 43 minutes north, 129 degrees 00 minutes east.
The armed agents aboard the submarine have infiltrated the land area of the Republic of Korea. In the vicinity of the North Korean submarine and alongside the infiltration route of the North Korean armed agents a total of 2,190 items of 190 kinds were found, including various firearms (RPG-7, AK rifle and M-16 rifle), ammunition, and equipment (infiltration, communication, and reconnaissance).
Among the 26 North Korean infiltrators 11 of them were executed in toto by the AK rifle of their colleagues. None of the victims carried AK rifle, and all of them were shot to death in their heads.
The mass killing seems to be an intentional cover-up to avoid punishment for their mission failure and to prevent the disclosure of their missions, if caught alive. It is this inhuman and cruel nature of the North Korean regime that has made possible the murder of their own colleagues in the name of their communist goals.
The current incident is nothing but a clear and blatant armed provocation employing an armed submarine and special infiltration troops.
Infiltration by an armed submarine, which is an underwater combatant capable of underwater infiltration and attack, is a clear provocation bordering on a regular warfare. Trespassing by its submarine upon the territorial waters of the Republic of Korea itself constitutes a grave armed provocation.
North Korea's intent of hostility was further evidenced by the fact that all North Korean armed agents were officers armed with AK rifle, grenades, and other firearms.
* The infiltration by special infiltration troops armed with firearms is regarded not as an indirect aggression, but as a direct aggression, according to international practice.
In light of the armistice agreement, which forbids an armed hostility between the two sides, the submarine incident should be regarded as a military provocation.
By all accounts, the incident is nothing but a combat reconnaissance activity aimed at additional, larger-scale military provocation.
More specifically, the armed agents were found to have possessed a military map to reconfirm the routes to the highways near the city of Kang-Nung and the airstrips of the Kang-Nung Air Force Base, as well as camera films photographing the air force base in detail, thus revealing that their primary mission was military reconnaissance seemingly for future military action.
Thus, these North Korean infiltrators should not be defined as traditional espionage agents, but as armed commandos.
All of the infiltrators belong to the reconnaissance bureau in the DPRK Ministry of People's Armed Forces, whose primary missions are military reconnaissance, assassination, and guerrilla activities. given also their methods of infiltration, size (26 in total), and equipment, the infiltrators differ form the conventional spies.
Their high level of military training and armed resistance against the ROK armed forces further indicate that they are armed commandos in all respects.
The current incident should also be seen in the context of North Korea's declaration last April to give up its duties regarding the maintenance and management of the DMZ and MDL.
It should also be emphasized that the current armed infiltration by a submarine is a far more serious violation than the April 1996 incident.
Infiltration by an armed submarine, an underwater combatant for regular warfare, is a grave military provocation
First of all, North Korea has refused to accept the UNC's letter of protest at the outset, claiming that the incident has nothing to do with it.
Afterwards, however, North Korea has changed its initial position and demanded that its submarine and crew members be immediately returned, arguing through the announcement of the spokesperson of the Ministry of People's Armed Forces (Chosen Central News Agency) that the submarine was on a regular training mission and, due to an engine failure, went adrift to the territorial waters of the Republic of Korea.
Second, if they were indeed on a routine training mission, it would have been reasonable for the crew members, who are all military officers, to wear the North Korean uniforms, not civilian clothes or South Korean military uniforms. Additionally, North Korea needs to explain why their soldiers had to wear the insignia of the South Korean military units and carry South Korean rifle, such as M-16.
Third, the North Korean assertion that the submarine was adrift and floundered because of an engine failure begs several questions.
Had there been an engine failure, the submarine should have risen to the surface to prevent submersion. As a matter of fact, the submarine kept sailing underwater to the coast of the city of Kang-Nung.
The September tidal wave of the East Sea should have carried the allegedly malfunctioning submarine northward. On the contrary, the submarine was found 90 km south of the NLL.
In case of a drifting ship caused by an engine failure, it is normal under international practice to send out an emergency signal and to call for an outside help. There were no indications, however, that the submarine called for an emergency help.
If the submarine went indeed adrift, the North Korean Navy should have conducted a search and rescue operation. There is no indication that the North Korean Navy did any activity of that sort.
To avoid a floundering near the coast, the crew members seem to have exceeded the maximum operational capacity of the engine, resulting in the separation of a rudder from the ship and a broken propeller, which were subsequently found near the submarine.
If the submarine and to land under force majeure and harbored no intent of hostility, they should have sought after surrender and an emergency rescue. They have, on the contrary, dispersed and engaged in an armed resistance, in particular, the mass killing of 11 crew members by their own colleagues strongly indicated an intentional cover-up for their infiltration missions.
Fourth, North Korea has denounced the ROK armed forces for an indiscriminate attack on the allegedly unarmed North Korean soldiers on the one hand and has threatened to exercise its so-called right to retaliate on the other. To all intents and purposes, the North Korean claims do not contain a grain of truth. Henceforth, the Republic of Korea government and the armed forces shall not yield to such a threat and shall immediately respond to North Korea's future provocation.
It wants to help resolve its internal and external difficulties by notching up military tensions on the Korean peninsula.
As long as the North Korean regime requires the maintenance of high-level military tensions on the peninsula, it is likely that its military provocation like the current submarine incident would continue in the future.
At approximately 0200 hours on September 18th, 1996 a North Korean submarine was found to have infiltrated the territory of the Republic of Korea, coming aground along the coast of the East Sea at 37 degrees 43 minutes north, 129 decrees 00 minutes east.
The armed agents aboard the submarine have infiltrated the land area of the Republic of Korea. In the vicinity of the North Korean submarine and alongside the infiltration route of the North Korean armed agents a total of 2,190 items of 190 kinds were found, including various firearms (e.g., RPG-7 anti-armor rocket, AK rifle, M-16 rifle, and grenade), ammunition, and equipment (e.g., infiltration, communication, and reconnaissance).
Among the 26 North Korean infiltrators 11 of them were killed one by one in an execution by the AK rifle of their own comrades. All of them were shot to death in their from behind and no AK rifle was found at the scene.
The mass killing seems primarily intended to prevent the disclosure of their mission. It is this inhumane and nature of the North Korean regime that has made possible the murder of their own people.
By now twenty-seven days have passed since the mopping-up operation began to ferret out the North Korean armed commandos. In addition to the 11 agent's killed by their own colleagues, another 11 were weeded out and one was captured alive by the ROK armed forces. The ROK armed forces are making every effort to stamp out at the earliest time possible the remaining three North Korean armed commandos, who are believed to be still at large.
The current course of North Korean military provocation is not only a serious violation of our territorial waters, but also a grave violation of the armistice agreement. It also constitutes a breach of faith to the South Korean and international efforts to extend humanitarian aid to the North Korean people and to provide economic assistance to its beleaguered economy.
It is in the context of the international assistance efforts that the South Korean public and the international community were taken aback by the North Korean provocation.
North Korea should have apologized for the incident and promised its resolve not to repeat reckless aggression. On the contrary, it refused to accept the MAC's (UNC Military Armistice Commission) letter of protest for five days, claiming that the "incident had nothing to do with ourselves."
Several days later, on September 22nd, North Korea came up with a fabricated story that the "submarine was on a routine training mission, but went adrift due to an engine failure" and demanded that the submarine and its crew members be returned immediately.
Furthermore, on September 26th and 27th it made a series of such hostile remarks: it has the "right to retaliate," "The entire responsibility lies in the South Korean puppet regime," "There will be an expensive price to pay for south Korea; and so on.
Most recently, North Korea stepped up its propaganda offensive toward the international community by falsely claiming that "the incident is none other than South Korea's fabrication," thereby continuing its unreasonable and unrepentant attitude.
To the ROK:
in a September 27th statement issued by the Central News Agency, North Korea defined itself as the "victim" and avowed to take its "hundredfold, thousand-fold revenge against the inflictor."
During the October 2nd colonel-level meeting of the Military Armistice Commission the North Korean representative Park Im-soo threatened that "we can no longer watch idly the south killing our people's army personnel and we are sure to retaliate."
In rapid succession to retaliation threats, North Korea on October 4th dispatched over ten AN-2 aircraft, designed for low-altitude infiltration by SOFs, near the DMZ three times for saber-rattling.
To the U.S:
In a September 26th letter to the United States by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-kwan, he remarked that "if the (submarine) incident it linked with the implementation of the (October 1994) agreed framework between North Korea and the United States, it would adjust its implementation plan. "
In the above-mentioned (colonel-level meeting of the MAC, North Korean representative Park Im-soo also threatened that North Korea "hope that the United States would not intervene in this incident and, if it does intervene. North Korea would also retaliate against the United States."
Regarding its armed infiltration into the Republic of Korea, furthermore, North Korean ambassador to the UN Kim Hyung-woo on October 4th blatantly vowed to the president of the UN Security Council that "North Korea has the right to retaliate, in case South Korea does not return the submarine and the corpses immediately."
Passing the responsibility of the incident on to South Korea is a well--calculated tactic on the part of North Korea to intensify anti-South sentiment among its people and to consolidate its internal control.
Building on the international community's understanding and cooperation, the government of the Republic of Korea shall expose North Korea's false claims and resolutely respond in such a way that North Korea cannot help but pay for its irrational military behavior.
The North Korean allegation that the submarine went adrift accidentally on a routine training mission is a pure fabrication in light of the following facts:
Had there been an engine failure, the submarine should have risen to the surface to prevent submersion. To the contrary, the submarine kept sailing underwater to the coast of the city of Kang-Nung.
The September tidal wave of the East Sea should have carried the allegedly malfunctioning submarine northward. On the contrary, the submarine was found 90 km south of the ROK northern limit line (NLL) at sea.
In case of a drifting ship with an engine failure, it is normal under international practice to send out an emergency signal and to call an outside help. There were no indications, however, that the submarine called for an emergency help.
If the submarine had indeed gone adrift, the North Korean navy should have conducted a search and rescue operation. There was no such operation by the North Korean navy.
There is clear evidence that the submarine's engine was functioning normally. While the submarine tried to motor away from the rockbed after being stranded, parts of the screwblades were ripped from the submarine. Therefore, the remnants of the screwblades and broken rocks invalidate the North Korean allegation that the submarine ran aground due to engine trouble.
If the North Korean armed agents had to land due to the submarine's alleged engine trouble and harbored no intent of hostility, they should have sought after surrender and an emergency rescue. They have, on the contrary, dispersed and engaged in an armed resistance.
The armed agents possessed an special military map to ascertain the infiltration routes to the highways near the city of Kang-Nung and the airstrips of the Kang-Nung Air Force Base, as well as camera films photographing the air force base in detail.
The infiltrators are armed commandos belonging to the Reconnaissance Bureau in North Korea's Ministry of People's Armed Forces, which is responsible for military reconnaissance, assassination, and guerrilla activities. Given their methods of infiltration, high level of military skills troop size (26 in total), and equipment, the mission of the infiltrators is clearly distinct from that of conventional espionage.
If they were indeed on a routine training mission, the North Korean infiltrators would not have been dressed in civilian clothes of South Korean military uniforms. North Korea also needs to explain why their soldiers had to wear the insignia of the South Korean military units and carry South Korean rifles such as M-16.
In particular, in light of their apparent high-level combat training at mountainous areas, month-long guerilla activities against the ROK armed forces under harsh conditions, and an indiscriminate killing of three unarmed civilians collecting mountain mushrooms near Mt. O-dae, there is no denying that they are none other than armed commandos trained for special missions.
By all accounts, the purpose of the infiltration was to carry out necessary preparations including combat reconnaissance for future larger-scale military provocation.
In light of the above facts and assessment, the ROK Ministry of National Defense takes the following positions:
First of all, the current military provocation by a North Korean submarine and its brazen-faced "threat of retaliation " prove once again that North Korea's strategy to communize the entire Korean peninsula by force has not chanced even in the post-cold war era.
Second, the responsibility for a heightened tension on the Korean peninsula caused by the incident resides solely with North Korea; to all intents and purposes our mopping-up operation is just and legitimate.
Third, the ROK armed forces are well prepared to repel any type of North Korean provocation and, if provoked, will take necessary actions immediately and resolutely.
Economic | Foreign Policy | Maps | Russia | Security | Database
Voices from Asia: Editorials and Opinion from Asian Newspapers | Asia-Pacific Distance Calculator |