ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TOKYO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
A violent espionage drama between the two Koreas deepened Thursday, as Southern forces killed a total of seven infiltrators from the enemy North and a captured spy confessed that his side had conducted intelligence operations on South Korean air defense systems.
The casualties brought to 18 the number of North Koreans left dead after their submarine ran aground near the eastern city of Kangnung Wednesday in what Seoul is calling Pyongyang's worst provocation in nearly 30 years. One South Korean soldier was wounded by a hand grenade.
An autopsy of 11 other North Koreans found dead Wednesday confirmed that they had not committed suicide en masse, as originally suspected, but were shot in the back of the head, South Korean media reported. The fatal weapon, an AK-47 rifle, was not recovered at the site - leading authorities to suspect the men had been killed by a comrade who then fled.
South Korean security forces, in a huge dragnet mobilizing thousands of troops, helicopters, roadblocks and sniffer dogs, continued to pursue as many as six other infiltrators.
Lee Kang Soo, 31, the captured North Korean, had initially told interrogators that the submarine carried 20 men but later increased that number to 25. He said five North Koreans had been dropped off on South Korea's eastern coast after leaving the North on Monday.
He said their submarine ran aground when trying to pick up the men in a coastal rendezvous, South Korean media reported.
Lee said the same 330-ton Sang-o submarine had been sent to Kangnung four times to collect intelligence on the area's civilian air defense systems, the Korean press reported.
But South Korean authorities said the North Korean objective may have been sabotage.
Authorities said the North Koreans may have been planning to commit sabotage disguised as Southerners since a South Korean military fatigue, M-16 rifle and hand grenade were found at one mountain site. The seven North Koreans killed Thursday also wore South Korean-manufactured clothing, including jeans, casual shirts and sneakers.
A special investigative team of the U.N. command in Seoul officially confirmed the submarine and its occupants belonged to the (North) Korean People's Army and attempted to pass a protest message to its representative Thursday at the truce village of Panmunjon in the Demilitarized Zone between the two enemies.
The message charged Pyongyang with ``clear and flagrant'' violations of the Armistice Agreement governing the truce between North Korea and the United Nations Command and demanded steps to prevent a reoccurrence.
But Lt. General Ri Chan Bok of the North Korean army refused to accept the message.
Wednesday's incident has outraged South Koreans, who recently sent rice to the faltering regime said to be suffering from acute shortages of food and fuel. Although North Korea recently held an international forum to woo foreign investors to the Northern free-trade port of Rajin, the espionage incident has underscored the communist regime's duplicity and deepened suspicions it has not abandoned aims to unify the country by force, analysts said.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB