Boat attack derails Korean reconciliation

Progress in reconciling North and South Korea has slowed since the historic summit last year

By staff and wire reports

SEOUL, South Korea -- Almost a year after the leaders of North Korea and South Korea met for a landmark summit in Pyongyang, efforts to reconcile the two adversaries have ground to a halt.

The revelation at the weekend that North Korea last month fired on a South Korean fishing boat after it crossed into North Korean waters, threatened to further derail the reconciliation process between the two neighbors.

From Seoul came a stream of angry rhetoric, with politicians pointing to a series of incursions by North Korean cargo ships into South Korean waters last week.

As the North remained typically quiet, the gaping divide between the two nations seemed as wide as it had ever been in recent years.

"One South Korean vessel containing approximately nine people accidentally crossed the NLL (Northern Limit Line) on the East Sea as they tried to retrieve their fishing nets," a South Korean maritime police official said Monday.

The official said the South Korean fishermen involved were being questioned as of late on Sunday after the incident came to light over the weekend. But he could not confirm reports they could be arrested for illegally crossing the sea border.

The incident apparently took place just before North Korea began sending commercial vessels into South Korean waters, violating a fragile ceasefire agreement that brought a halt to the 1950-53 Korean War.

More incursions

Five unarmed North Korean commercial ships entered South Korean territorial waters on four separate occasions between June 2 and June 7.

The two nations remain technically at war, and their border is considered the most heavily fortified in the world, with tens of thousands of troops lined up on each side staring out across a thin divide.

South Korea's opposition Grand National Party on Saturday charged the government with "lacking nerve" over the series of sea incidents, saying fire should be met with fire.

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"The North was relentless and even merciless against our fishing boat when it violated their waters, but we were timid in response to their ships intruding into our waters," the national news agency, Yonhap, quoted party spokesman Kwon Chul-hyun as saying.

"If North Korea fires at a South Korean fishing boat crossing the maritime border, the government must respond by firing at North Korean ships intruding into the South's territorial waters," Secretary-General Kim Ki-bae was quoted as saying at a party meeting.

South Korea says it is willing to grant passage to North Korean vessels if they give prior notice.

North Korea has yet to reply to Seoul's request for talks to resolve the issue, a defense ministry spokesman said Monday.

Historic meeting

Only one year ago, the two Kim's shook hands for the first time at an airport in Pyongyang, lifting hopes for a gradual reconciliation between the two adversaries.

The meeting heralded Seoul's "Sunshine Policy" toward the North, which won Kim Dae-jung the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.

Following the meeting came a visit to Pyongyang by then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and a series of reunions between families divided since the Korean War.

"All of that could not have happened without that historic summit between the two Kims," said one diplomatic source in Seoul on Monday.

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"But pace of reconciliation up to that point, and immediately after was unsustainable. It couldn't possibly have continued on such a steep path."

"Things have to move slowly, and in the context of the past five years, or past decade, we have come a very long way."

According to U.S. and South Korean officials, two-thirds of North Korea's 1.1-million-member military are deployed close to the border with South Korea.

South Korea has a 650,000-member military, assisted by 37,000 U.S. troops. Washington has repeatedly ignored demands by the North that it withdraw its forces from the South.

But earlier this month recently installed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell signaled a more open stance to North Korea, saying the U.S. was ready to move ahead on an "open dialogue" with Pyongyang on a range of issues without preconditions.

With South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo standing at his side after a luncheon meeting, Powell said he expected talks with North Korea would open in New York but said no dates have been set.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.