June 14, 1999
Web posted at: 11:47 p.m. EDT (0347 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea sunk a North Korean patrol boat and damaged another during a 10-minute exchange of fire in contested waters in the Yellow Sea early Tuesday, prompting Seoul to issue a heightened state of alert.

The firefight dramatically escalated an eight-day standoff between the two nations in a disputed fishing zone.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said that five North Korean ships, two patrol boats and three torpedo vessels, crossed into the disputed waters and that high-speed South Korean patrol boats approached the ships.

Defense Ministry officials said the North Korean ships fired first and South Korean ships returned fire.

All South Korean ships in the Yellow Sea, including fishing vessels, have been told to come back into port.

The Defense Ministry said seven of its sailors were slightly injured in the gunbattle.

According to a spokesman for South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the president was aware of the situation and said that military should react "coolly" to the event.

The exchange erupted minutes before North Korean officials began meeting with officers of the U.N. Command in the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday to discuss the standoff.

North Korea agreed to the meeting Sunday. The U.S.-backed U.N. Command oversees an uneasy truce between the Koreas. The truce ended three years of fighting on the peninsula but left the two sides technically at war.

"The north's willingness to discuss the issue was viewed as a positive step by the U.N. Command," said U.S. Col. Carl Kropf, the command's spokesman. "It remains in everyone's interest to reduce tensions."

A root problem: Economic hardship

South Korea says northern naval vessels recently have crossed into southern waters daily.

The sea confrontation has taken place just south of the boundary called the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

Some analysts said the North Koreans are attempting to protect the impoverished country's fishing fleet during crab season. Exports provide one of North Korea's few sources of hard cash.

North Korea is suffering from a crushing food shortage caused by decades of economic problems, compounded by natural disasters in recent years.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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