INDEX
TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1999
Briefer: JAMES P. RUBIN

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB # 76
TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1999 12:35 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

................

QUESTION: Could you tell us what you know about the confrontation in the Yellow Sea between the ships of South and North Korea?

MR. RUBIN: Regrettably, an exchange of fire broke out Tuesday morning as the standoff between South Korean and North Korean naval vessels continued. The incident occurred when North Korean ships opened fire on South Korean vessels that were attempting to push them back across the so-called Northern Limit Line. The South Korean vessels returned fire; one North Korean vessel was sunk and others damaged. There have been reports of casualties on both sides.

For further details, obviously this would have to come from the South Korean authorities. My understanding is that ships from both the South Korean and North Korean ships remain in the area. For our part, we have been in close contact with the South Korean Government throughout the process. We're continuing to monitor the situation carefully. We are working closely with the South Korean authorities to try to diffuse the situation and reduce tensions.

We have contacted the North Korean authorities, through the New York channel, to urge strongly that they remain north of the Northern Limit Line. This line has served as an effective means of preventing military tension between North and South Korean military forces for 46 years. It serves as a practical demarcation line, which has contributed to the separation of forces. We urge North Korea to recognize this practicality and to avoid exacerbating the situation by keeping its craft north of the line.

Meanwhile, ships from both sides are still in the area. We remain in close consultation with Seoul. We're monitoring the situation carefully, and are working closely with Seoul to insure that this situation is diffused and tensions are reduced.

QUESTION: Jamie, can you - is it just a line or is it a buffer zone?

MR. RUBIN: At the risk of making an error, my understanding is it is the practical extension of the line between North and South Korea. It is not necessarily accepted by everybody as what the situation should be out in the high seas or in the body of water there; but as a practical matter, it's served for 40-some odd years as a way to avoid confrontation between North and South Korean vessels.

QUESTION: And do you have any idea why this 40-year duration of peaceful state on that line has ended?

MR. RUBIN: I'm not prepared to speculate.

QUESTION: How serious is this confrontation compared with previous confrontations?

MR. RUBIN: Well, clearly there is a confrontation; there were damages; people's - it looks like there were casualties. So it's a serious confrontation at sea. At the same time, we welcome the North Korean decision to attend the UN Command General Officer's Talks yesterday in Panmunjom. These talks adjourned without result. We urge North Korea to continue participating in the discussions so that a way to resolve the confrontation and the situation peacefully can be found and recurrences can be prevented. Further detail on these discussions would have to come from the UN command in Seoul.

QUESTION: Do you know if UN - I mean - sorry - if US troops in South Korea - have they gone on any heightened alert?

MR. RUBIN: Our forces remain in their normal state of readiness.

QUESTION: Do we have any accurate sense at all of how many people may have been killed?

MR. RUBIN: I've given you our general understanding. If you want further detail, you'll have to talk to the South Korean authorities in the region.

QUESTION: Jamie, can you tell us what level the US has been in touch with the South Koreans?

MR. RUBIN: A variety of levels; we're in very, very close contact with them. The Secretary hasn't been in touch with her counterpart, to my knowledge.

QUESTION: And one other thing to follow. Is the US concerned at all that countries like North Korea could think that the US is so focused or NATO countries are so focused in other parts of the world - Kosovo, et cetera - that they're not paying as close attention that what's going on?

MR. RUBIN: Well, it's simply not true, and I think that if you look at the situation in Iraq, look at the situation of our forces around the world, the fact that we deployed several hundred aircraft to Kosovo and now a relatively small number of troops to Kosovo - not even yet 7,000 - I think it's just not justified by the facts. We have focused on the North Korea problem, the Iraq problem, the Kosovo problem, and we are capable of focusing on many problems. Being a country with global responsibilities, we need to keep our eye on all areas of the globe of interest to us. We've been able to do that successfully, even as we've worked to resolve the problem in Kosovo through the successful achievement of NATO's objectives and the acceptance by President Milosevic of NATO's objectives.

QUESTION: Did you intend to leave out the India-Pakistan problem?

MR. RUBIN: I did not intend to, but we do not have forces deployed there which was the basis of the question. But I thank you for that helpful question.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. RUBIN: I guess that's the end of the briefing.

(Laughter.)

................

(The briefing concluded at 1:20 P.M.)

[end of document]