- North Korea 'torpedoes and sinks' South Korean navy ship
with 104 sailors on board
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- A massive rescue operation was underway this evening
to save the crew of a South Korean navy ship feared to have been hit by
a North Korean torpedo.
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- Several of the 104 crew were reported to have been killed
and others are missing from the ship which sunk in waters near Baengnyeong
island, close to the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas.
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- South Korea's president President Lee Myung-bak convened
an emergency meeting of security ministers amid concerns the incident could
become the flashpoint to draw the countries closer to renewed conflict.
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- Torpedo strike: A South Korean naval coast
defence ship patrols
the country's northern coast (file picture)
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- A South Korean ship is said to have fired in apparent
retaliation at a vessel in the north but there were no details of whether
it was hit.
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- Officials in the South Korean capital Seoul reported
59 people had been rescued from the unidentified 1,500-tonne naval vessel
which was said to have begun to sink after an explosion at the rear.
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- The ship was on a routine patrolling mission when it
was rocked by an explosion believed to have been caused by a torpedo strike,
possibly fired from a submarine.
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- "The cause is not certain and an investigation is
underway - our priority is the rescue operation," a South Korean official
said.
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- Six naval ships and two Coast Guard vessels were rushed
to the waters to try to save the crew, South Korea's Yonhap news agency
reported. Rescue helicopters and ambulances also sped to the scene.
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- Police in Seoul were placed on heightened alert in case
of attack.
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- Baeknyeong Island, four hours by boat from the port of
Incheon, is the westernmost point of South Korea and is a key military
post for South Korea because of its proximity to the North.
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- Flashpoint: The ship went down off the island of Baengnyeong,
in the Yellow Sea
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- The sudden escalation between the two countries comes
after North Korea warned it was increasing its defences in resoponse to
joint South Korean-U.S. military drills earlier this month.
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- North Korean has already threatened "unprecedented
nuclear strikes" against its southern neighbour and the U.S. over
claims they are planning to topple the regime of Kim Jong-il.
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- Last month, North Korea declared four naval firing zones
near the disputed sea border, deploying multiple rocket launchers close
to the frontier. Two of the zones are in the Yellow Sea where this incident
happened.
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- The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval battles
in 1999 when 17 North Korean sailors died - and 2002 when four South Korean
sailors and an estimated 30 North Koreans died.
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- In November the two navies fought a brief gun battle
that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. A North
Korean ship was also left in flames.
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- And in January, North Korea fired artillery in to the
disputed zones at a time of mounting international pressure to re-start
nuclear talks. Some analysts say the firing zones - and recent escalation
of military activity - may be a way of strengthening its hand in any talks.
- With international talks aimed at ending the communist
nation's nuclear ambitions stalled for months, economic ties have also
been hit with disputes over cross border tourism and a joint economic zone.
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- The western sea border has been a constant source of
military tension between the two countries and has triggered three deadly
exchanges in the past decade.
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- South Korea recognizes the Northern Limit line, drawn
unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command to demarcate the sea
border at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. the line has never been accepted
by the North.
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- In 2002, then-President George Bush named North Korea
as part of an 'axis of evil' alongside other 'rogue' states such as Iraq
and Iran.
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- But Kim Yong-il was not deterred. Instead, Pyongyang
made regular annoucements on its arsenal and in July 2003 claimed it had
enough plutonium to begin making nuclear bombs.
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- Three years later, North Korea test fired a long-range
missile and last year Pyongyang claimed it had carried out an underground
nuclear test, prompting protest from the US, Russia and China.
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- Action: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak,
center, talks with officials today after the sinking of one of the country's
naval ships
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- At the end of the Second World War, Korea was a united
country under Japanese occupation. But after Japan's defeat, the island
was effectively split with Soviet troops occupying the north and American
forces in the south.
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- The stage was set for a long-running and bitter confrontation
between the capitalist west and the communist forces of Russia.
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- In 1948, leaders in the north proclaimed the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea and the Soviets withdrew. Two years later, the
south declared independence. North Korea invaded.
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- The ensuing war lasted three years, left two million
dead and laid waste to the country's economy and infrastructure.
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- Hostilities finally ceased when the two sides agreed
to a three-mile buffer zone between the two states.
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- But despite the ceasefire, sporadic hostilities continued
, the two tiny countries fighting a bitter offshoot of the Cold War in
a remote and neglected corner of the world.
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- The south - propped up by the Americans - thrived. However,
the north has had a far rockier history.
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- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visits the
Daeheungsan Machinery Factory in North Korea today.
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- Originally ruled by Kim Il-song, the country's supreme
leader is now his son, Kim Jong-il.
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- Whereas his father had abided by the terms of the 1953
ceasefire, his sucessor reneged.
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- In 1996, against a backdrop of devastating famine, Kim
Jong-il announced he was sending troops into the demilitarised zone
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- In 2006, North Korea test-fired a long-range missile.
Relations with the West deteriorated again last year when neighbours accused
the country of carrying out another long-range missile test. Pyongyang,
however, claimed the rocket under scrutiny was carrying a communications
satellite.
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- Later last year, the country admitted it had carried
out its second underground nuclear test, prompting protest from the US,
China and Russia.
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- And while the nuclear brinkmanship continued, there were
regular spats with South Korea over border incursions and hostile intent.
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- The sea boundary has been the cause of particular tension
in the last few months. South Korea claims the north has designated four
areas as military firing zone and deployed four rocket launchers close
to the sea in response.
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- Although South Korea still recognises the Northern Limit
Line, which was drawn up in 1953, the north has never accepted the boundary.
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- THE KOREAN ARSENAL
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- NORTH KOREA
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- Active Military Personnel: 1,170,000 (including 60,000
special forces skilled in infiltration and asymmetric warfare).
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- Active Military Reserve: 4,700,000.
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- ARMY
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- Believed to have nuclear warheads, though numbers are
unknown.
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- 13 types of chemical and biological warheads, amounts
unknown.
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- 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, believed to include mustard
gas, phosgene and sarin. Among its biological agents are cholera, yellow
fever, smallpox, typhus, typhoid fever and dysentery.
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- Total Land-Based Weapons: 16,400.
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- Tanks: 3,700.
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- Armored Personnel Carriers: 2,500.
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- Towed Artillery: 3,500.
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- Self-Propelled Guns: 4,400.
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- Multiple Rocket Launch Systems: 5,000.
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- Mortars: 7,500.
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- Anti-Aircraft Weapons: 11,000.
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- NAVY
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- Warships: 708.
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- Submarines: 97.
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- AIR FORCE
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- Total Aircraft: 1,778.
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- Helicopters: 612.
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