Sailors Missing After Ship Collision in Waters Off Ulsan

Korean coast guard officials say they are conducting search-and-rescue operations off the nation's southeast coast after an apparent collision between two ships.

Officials said Wednesday that one of the vessels was a 1,500-ton Cambodian cargo ship. The type and identity of the other ship was not immediately known.

A spokesman said four bodies have been recovered so far and that seven other crew members are missing in waters off the city of Ulsan. One Russian sailor has been rescued.

N.Korea Demands Return of Fishing Crew

North Korea has officially requested the return of 31 North Koreans who crossed the Northern Limit Line near Yeonpyeong Island in a fishing boat on Saturday morning, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. The North Korean Red Cross sent a letter to its South Korean counterpart on Tuesday.
The ministry said the 20 women and 11 men are being questioned and will be sent back if they wish. 

Seoul believes it is likely that they simply drifted into southern waters rather than crossing the border with intent to defect as they were unaccompanied by children and are not families but in the same work team. All of them reportedly expressed their wish to return to North Korea.

Marine Corps to Be Beefed Up

The military is mulling an increase of the Marine Corps by 1,200 to 2,000 troops as part of plans to strengthen the defense of the West Sea islands and better react to North Korea's special forces. 

"We decided to increase the number of marines from the current 27,000 and are working out detailed plans," a Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. "We're looking at an increase of about 1,200 to 2,000." 

The extra troops will mostly be deployed on the northwestern front islands of Baeknyeong Yeonpyeong, Daecheong, and Udo, and some in a new command to be established in April. A source hinted that the command will be under the leadership of the Marine Corps, not of the Navy. 

The reinforcement of marines signals a shift in operational strategy for the islands against North Korean provocations from purely defensive to more offensive tactics.

USFK Chief Explains Threat from N.Korean Special Forces

North Korea's 200,000-strong special forces are divided into 60,000 troops assigned to special missions and 140,000 light infantry troops, the commander of the U.S Forces Korea told South Korean lawmakers Tuesday. Gen. Walter Sharp was speaking in a meeting with the National Assembly's Defense Committee.

"The 60,000 troops Sharp referred to are elite special operations squads capable of carrying out highly complicated missions such as the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, while the 140,000 light infantry troops probably either support the crack units or engage in special operations that we know about such as infiltrating behind enemy lines," said a member of the committee. 

Gen. Walter Sharp

Another said the light infantry troops are similar to South Korea's special forces and if Sharp's comments are correct "the North probably has 140,000 special forces that are equivalent to ours and 60,000 more soldiers who are capable of even more difficult missions." The lawmaker added, "This means that North Korea's special forces are far more powerful than we thought."