South Korea Now Seeks Fire-First Battle Rule

July 2, 2002

SEOUL - South Korean Defence Minister Kim Dong Shin proposed changing the rules of engagement yesterday for clashes with the North to allow southern forces to fire first, after last Saturday's deadly sea clash left four South Korean sailors dead, one missing and 19 injured.

The government of President Kim Dae Jung had changed the rules so that South Korean forces had to give a warning before firing.

But Saturday's clash in the Yellow Sea have brought calls for a change.

Defence Minister Kim made the proposal to change the handling of conflict in talks yesterday with General Leon LaPorte, the commander of the 37,000 American troops in South Korea.

'The minister said the combined South Korean-US forces should consider revising the rules. There was no immediate response from LaPorte but the mood appears to be positive,' a spokesman said.

South Korean troops require approval from the US commander to change key rules governing military affairs under their mutual defence pact dating from the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The change could well deal a hard blow to President Kim's 'sunshine' policy of dragging the Stalinist North out of isolation through peaceful engagement.

South Korean opposition parties have demanded the government review the policy, which helped President Kim win the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.

'Our military policy needs a total review,' said an opposition party spokesman.

'A strong counter-measure is the only way we can stop North Korea's armed provocations.'

South Korean sailors who survived Saturday's battle admitted their action had been restrained because of battle rules adopted to stop an isolated conflict from escalating into an all-out war.

'We kept blaring out warnings but could not fire even though their cannon took aim at us,' Petty Officer Han Jung Gil, 26, told the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper.

At their 40-minute meeting in Seoul, Gen LaPorte and Mr Kim Dong Shin called for close cooperation to counter North Korea's armed provocations, the spokesman said.

Gen LaPorte was quoted as saying the United States was strengthening surveillance along the Cold War frontier where troops from both sides have maintained a high alert since the clash. --AFP

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