By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter



A small South Korean vessel capsized and sank off the nation’s southeastern coast Tuesday night, however the accident was not linked to a possible intrusion by North Korean submarines, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The Navy craft with its five-man crew went missing 37 kilometers (19 miles) off the port city of Ulsan at 11:52 p.m., while returning from a nighttime exercise, ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Nam Dae-youn told reporters at a news conference.





``One sailor was rescued by other navy vessels searching the area but the other four crew members were missing from the training ship,’’ Nam said. The Navy and Air Force is continuing a search for the four missing men.

It was not immediately known what caused the accident. The Navy believes at the moment that the accident occurred due to bad weather conditions and a mechanical problem.

The rescued is Navy’s 24-year-old Petty Officer First Class Kim Kyong-sok, while the Navy’s three Chief Petty Officers Lee Ki-ju, 34, Yang Young-sik, 33, Oh Kil-young, 31, and the Army’s 36-year-old Master Sergeant Kim Kwang-u remain missing.

The vessel was assigned to guard against North Korea’s coastal infiltration as occurred in cases in 1996 and 1998.

But the ministry spokesman bristled at any link between the loss of the South Korean vessel and reported North Korean submarine activity. ``That has nothing to do with the sunken ship and even the locations are far apart,’’ Nam said.

He was referring to a news report stating U.S. military intelligence had advised South Korea on Monday about two suspected North Korean submarines operating in South Korean waters. ``It’s true we received intelligence on the submarines and the Navy quickly launched an operation, but we were not able to confirm the existence of extraordinary objects,’’ Nam said.

The South Korean military sent its P-3C patrol aircraft and anti-submarine LYNX helicopter to the area in an unsuccessful operation that included the dropping of anti-submarine bombs.

In September, 1996, a North Korean submarine carrying 26 agents ran aground off the South’s eastern shore. Almost all of them were killed, either by South Korean troops or their comrades, in a mountain search operation that lasted nearly two months.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr