NK naval request to open fire in 2002 sea battle disclosed

“We will fire as soon as you give the order to.” This was a “special intelligence” communication in Korean that North Korea’s patrol boat No. 684 sent to its command unit two days before the second inter-Korean naval battle broke out off the border island of Yeonpyeong-do in the West Sea June 29, 2002, reported the Monthly Chosun in its July issue.

This is the first time that North Korea’s “full order” including the word “fire” has been disclosed although it was included in special intelligence intercepted by military monitoring unit No. 5679.

It has rekindled debate over allegations that North Korea after the outbreak of the naval skirmish that happened in waters off the South, crossed the border line, called the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

The new finding witnessed that when the North’s patrol boats crossed the NLL, they intended to shoot South Korean high-speed boats. “The higher unit also communicated with the fighter jets, too. This means that the North was thoroughly ready to fire,” the magazine said, quoting a report on the naval battle by the Navy’s Operational Command.

Han Chul-yong, former chief of the military unit, No. 5679 claimed in his memoir that the Ministry of National Defense ignored the reports concerning the provocative word “fire.”

However, doubt still remains over the content of the message. “We can’t confirm whether the intercepted message is right or not because of military security,” said a spokesperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who refused to be identified.