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The North Korean military has been making preparations to raid South Korean islands near the western sea border, a retired Navy general said Tuesday.
Kim Sung-man, former commander of the operations of the ROK Navy, urged the Navy to hastily review its defense capability to counter the North’s possible raids on five islands in the West Sea, including Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong.
In a contribution to konasnet, Kim said the North conducted large-scale exercises to raid the West Sea islands in waters near Nampo in the North in late August during its leader Kim Jong-il’s visit to Russia.
In the joint exercises involving the Army, Navy and Air Force, North Korean troops raided an island north of a rock near Nampo, he said.
During the exercises, special North Korean forces, including troops from the marine snipers corps, boarded AN-2s and landed on the island, the retired general said.
He said he was told that the military got intelligence that North Korea had planned to raid the West Sea islands last year.
A scenario is that the North launches an attack on South Korean patrol boats in the West Sea, while its jet fighters attack the five South Korean islands along with artillery shelling. After that, Special Forces, aboard AN-2s and LCPA hovercraft, raid the islands, according to Kim.
To that end, the North has built a large base for hovercraft in Goampo, Kim said, adding that troops have been relocated to the Goampo base, 300km south of the previous base in Cheolsan, North Pyeongan Province.
He claimed that the North torpedoed the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan last year as part of its nighttime “actual” operations, and shelled Yeonpyeong Island during daytime to test the accuracy and power of its shore guns.
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