EXCLUSIVE: S. Korea mobilizes maritime squads

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By Andrew Salmon

YEONGJONG ISLAND, South Korea | On their island base in a tense Yellow Sea, black-clad commando squads armed with automatic weapons surge up ladders onto the deck of a training ship, fast-rope down building exteriors and detonate explosives.

The Special Sea Attack Team (SSAT), an elite South Korean Coast Guard unit tasked with countering maritime terrorism, is preparing to respond with tougher policies to North Korean shipping in response to North Korea's missile launches and its second nuclear test in May. North Korea fired four short-range missiles into waters off the east coast Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported.

"We have not got word from above yet," said Inspector Joung Ku-so, who was suited in body armor and bristling with weapons. "But we are practicing boarding drills for PSI," he said, referring to the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative that aims to block ships from carrying weapons materials to the North.

North Korea is expected to test its long-range Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Saturday, to coincide with Independence Day celebrations in the United States.

The PSI comprises more than 90 nations that have agreed to monitor and possibly inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying illicit cargoes. Currently, a U.S. Navy destroyer is shadowing the North Korean freighter Kang Nam 1 in the South China Sea. The freighter's movements are also being monitored electronically at the South Korean Coast Guard station at Incheon.

Boarding a Coast Guard hovercraft off Incheon - South Korea's second-largest port and the location of its main international airport - for the 30-minute ride to the SSAT base, it is clear how dangerous these waters are. Coast Guard cutters mount 20 mm rotary chain guns; in the event of war, they would support naval operations.

The sea is gray and choppy, and fog often cuts visibility to zero. Mud flats and islands dot the estuary off Incheon, which lies just 20 miles south of the maritime border. Craft from South Korea, North Korea and China compete over the rich crab fishing.

Incheon was the scene of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's September 1950 seaborne landing that turned the tide of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Moreover, it was on an island off Incheon in 1969 where South Korea trained criminals in a "Dirty Dozen"-style unit in an attempt to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. That incident was depicted in the hit 2003 South Korean film "Silmido." Mr. Kim died of natural causes in 1994.

In June 1999 and June 2002, North Korea initiated naval clashes in these waters, killing six South Korean sailors. At the time, governments in Seoul were following an engagement "sunshine policy" toward Pyongyang and withheld policies and comments that could antagonize the North.

Now, under the leadership of conservative President Lee Myung-bak, policies are tougher.