17 November 2009 / AP, SEOUL
A North Korean cargo ship visited a South Korean port on Monday, showing that trade between the rival countries is continuing despite their bloody naval skirmish last week.
The ship unloaded 1,750 tons of silica at Incheon Port, west of Seoul, and sailed back to the North later Monday, according to port official Lee Jin-wu. The ship departed from a North Korean port last Thursday, two days after the neighboring countries clashed along their disputed western sea border. North Korea had warned it would take unspecified military action to defend itself following the clash -- their first at sea in seven years. A senior South Korean military officer said the fighting left one North Korean crew member dead and three others wounded. South Korea suffered no casualties. South Korea put its troops on high alert to cope with possible North Korean provocations, but has said it does not want to see the skirmish harm relations with its communist neighbor. “We’ve been saying that we won’t artificially regulate” inter-Korean trade and exchanges, said Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo. She said other North Korean ships, carrying marine products and coal, have passed through South Korean waters following the skirmish, and some South Korean ships have sailed to North Korean ports to deliver humanitarian aid.
