Defense Minister Han Min-koo warned of stern retaliation against any provocation from North Korea as South Korea commemorated the 13rd anniversary of a deadly cross-border naval skirmish Monday.

The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, named after a frontline island in the West Sea, was initiated after two North Korean patrol vessels violated the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime frontier, on June 29, 2002. It killed six South Korean seamen and wounded 18 others aboard a warship that later sank amid a towing operation, while destroying a North Korean boat and leaving more than 30 dead or injured.

While paying respect to the fallen sailors, Han stressed that his military will “clearly engrave” in Pyongyang’s mind the fact that it could never fulfill any purpose through provocations and threats, citing escalating tension surrounding the NLL on the back of the communist state’s repeated threats.
“The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong is a fight of victory during which our servicemen warded off North Korea’s provocation with their own bodies,” he said in a speech during a memorial service at a naval base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

“If North Korea stages a reckless provocation again, our military, as we have declared countlessly, will punish not only its origin but also the enemy’s supporting forces and command so that it will feel the provocation’s price in their bones.” 

The scuffle struck South Koreans especially because it took place while a football frenzy was sweeping through the country as its national team played against Turkey for third place in the World Cup jointly hosted with Japan.

Han was the first defense chief to deliver a funeral oration to mark the clash, which followed the first naval conflict in the area in 1999. His predecessors accompanied prime ministers to the event in 2007-11 and then-President Lee Myung-bak in 2012, who elevated the memorial to a national level and gave the official title instead of referring to the incident as “engagement.”

Hosted by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chung Ho-seop, the latest ceremony was attended by some 700 people including the former sailors of the Chamsuri-357, the victims’ bereaved families and dozens of ruling and opposition lawmakers led by Saenuri Party chairman Kim Moo-sung and New Politics Alliance for Democracy leader Moon Jae-in.

Among the participants were the director of “Northern Limit Line,” a film centered on the skirmish that has topped the box office since its Friday release, and the actor who played the patrol killer’s boatswain.

A replica of the warship is on display at the War Memorial of Korea in central Seoul in honor of the fallen soldiers’ sacrifice.

In his own address, Chung lauded the commitment of the six “heroes,” vowing airtight defense posture.

“Inheriting the six warriors’ fighting spirit, we must establish a robust readiness posture under which we can strike the enemies immediately at the order and sternly punish them against any additional provocation so that they will not covet our waters and territory,” the navy chief added.

The NLL has long been a flashpoint as Pyongyang has persistently sought to invalidate it, arguing that the sea border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led U.N. Command after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and should be moved further south.

In March 2010, the regime also torpedoed the South Korean corvette Cheonan near there, killing 46 sailors, months before shelling Yeonpyeongdo Island, killing two marines and two civilians.

Later in the day, Han visited the Daejeon National Cemetery to pay homage to the deceased soldiers of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong and the Cheonan attack.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)