Three-day silence augurs well for crew of seized ship

Three-day silence augurs well for crew of seized ship

By Kate Webb

SEOUL (AFP): An unusual three-day silence from both sides of the Korean peninsula over a South Korean rice ship seized on Sunday augurs well for the tentative thaw between the rivals, analysts said Wednesday.

North Korea boarded the 9,367-ton Samsun Venus in the port of Chongjin and detained its crew on charges of spying while they unloaded 5,000 tons of rice given by South Korea to relieve the communist North's food crisis.

But Pyongyang, which normally loses no opportunity to hurl vitriolic abuse at the South, has maintained an unusual, total public silence this time.

The incident came days before South Korean President Kim Young-sam was to announce a new North-South initiative on the Aug. 15 anniversary of the liberation of the peninsula from Japanese colonial rule.

"Maybe in this case silence is golden," said one Seoul analyst, noting that when a South Korean fishing boat strayed into Northern waters on May 31, Pyongyang radio immediately flashed the news of "an illegal intruder."

Seoul also sat on the news until Wednesday, when the Yonhap news agency said talks in Beijing on granting more rice had been canceled at the North's request. Journalists bombarded officials with requests for an explanation.

Finally Seoul's Vice Unification Minister Song Yong-dae admitted Pyongyang had stopped the ship, adding that Seoul had been trying to work the issue out quietly to prevent a "political confrontation."

An earlier problem in the rice shipments was resolved when North Korea expressed regret at having forced the captain of freighter Sea Apex, to lower his flag before entering Chongjin.

In that case, too, there was an absence of the usual vitriol, and the shipments resumed after the message of regret.

Only 70,000 tons of the 150,000 tons donated has been delivered so far, though supplementary Japanese rice shipments are underway.

The North had said the 21 crew, in particular a 34-year-old navigation officer who had "confessed", had been spying, and that the Beijing talks had been canceled, Song said.

The minister denied the spying charge but hastened to that Seoul had been trying to work the issue out quietly through unofficial contacts to prevent a new "political confrontation."

North Korea seized the US spy ship Pueblo at the height of the Cold War in January of 1968, and took the six officers, 75 enlisted men and two civilians aboard prisoner.

One crew member died in captivity and the rest of the crew remained prisoners for 11 months.