South Koreans rattled by navy battle

Updated: Saturday June 29, 2002 07:46 a.m. ET

DAEGU, South Korea (AP) -- South Koreans were outraged Saturday by a deadly naval battle with North Korea only hours before the third-place game at the World Cup.

South Korea played Turkey in the game.

"We've been preparing security with every possible scenario in mind, so we don't think the incident will affect the game," said Lin Byung-taik, spokesman for the World Cup Organizing Committee. "We will do our best to bring this World Cup to a successful conclusion."

In the most serious border clash in three years, a North Korean navy boat sank a South Korean patrol boat in the western sea earlier Saturday, killing at least four South Korean sailors. Twenty-two others were wounded and one was missing.

A North Korea warship was towed in flames across the border.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops led by Soviet-made tanks invaded South Korea, starting the three-year Korean War that ended in an uneasy armistice in 1953. Millions were killed and injured, reducing the peninsula to rubble.

"No matter how hard you try, you just can't trust those North Koreans," said Lee Myung-kyu, a 56-year-old housewife, shaking her umbrella. "They have a habit of ruining somebody else's holidays. The World Cup is our big festival, and the North Koreans just can't stand us having a good time."

Others said the skirmish on the highly tense western sea border may have been an accident and advised calm.

"I don't think it was a premeditated attack on us," said Lee Je-shik, 69. "Those things can happen along the border. Although we regret the death of our sailors, we need to regain our composure and react to the situation with calm. We are hosting the World Cup; we shouldn't give foreign visitors unnecessary alarm."

Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at Seoul's independent Sejong Institute, said he saw no link between the navy battle and the World Cup, which South Korea is staging with Japan.

"There's no reason for North Korea to screw up the World Cup," he said.

"North Korea's pre-emptive attack throws cold water over warming ties," said Nam Kyung-pil, spokesman of the opposition Grand National Party. "We cannot but accuse that this provocation was intentional, as it happened at the end of the World Cup, which is a global festival."

Many fans outside the stadium hours before the match felt bitter toward the North.

"I definitely believe that the North Koreans were jealous," said Kang Suk-jun, 68. "We have provided a lot of aid and they return it with launching an attack on our navy ships."

Added Kim Ji-mying, "I think they wanted to spoil the mood for the World Cup."

The tournament was a huge success for South Korea, which reached the semifinals. No Asian country has gone that far, although North Korea reached the quarterfinals in 1966. Millions of red-clad fans spilled into the streets on match days, cheering for the team and waving national flags.

In the past week, North Korea broadcast the success of the South Korean team to its people, showing parts of the South's victories over Italy and Spain on state television. Many saw that as a sign North Korea is willing to open the door a little to foreign influences.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)