TOKYO - Before dawn yesterday, a small North Korean submarine foundered in the surf off the rugged and remote eastern coast of South Korea. What followed was one of the strangest and bloodiest days in the recent history of the two bitter enemy nations that share the divided Korean peninsula.
By late last night, the bodies of 11 men, believed to be North Korean submarine crewmen, had been found on a hillside three miles from the grounded sub. South Korean defense officials said they all died from gunshot wounds, perhaps inflicted by one of them who eventually turned the gun on himself.
A 12th crewman was in custody, telling defense officials that the submarine, beached 42 miles into South Korean territory, had innocently drifted across the border after developing engine trouble. Lee Kang Soo, identified as a North Korean military officer, reportedly was telling his captors nothing else last night, except, "I want to sleep."
Another eight or nine men believed to have been aboard the 111-foot submarine were still at large, being sought by one of the largest dragnets assembled in years by South Korean authorities.
As thousands of police and military troops and dogs combed the rough brush of the remote mountains near Kangnung, about 90 miles east of Seoul, naval ships patrolled offshore and air-force planes and helicopters buzzed overhead. Authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area.
Two North Koreans burst into a village home and stole food and cigarettes from the owner at gunpoint, state radio reported. Later, security forces exchanged gunfire with two infiltrators near an airport serving Kangnung, television news said. The skirmish lasted for about 15 minutes but the two evaded capture.
The incident has further strained the already-abysmal relations between the two Koreas, which share a peninsula divided by one of the world's most heavily fortified and tense borders. Officials in Seoul, already concerned that North Korea's deteriorating economy and severe food shortages could lead it to desperate military action, reacted angrily to Wednesday's events.
"This incident is a grave provocation and a definite infiltration against South Korea by North Korea," said Kim Dong Shin, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calling the incident a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Defense Ministry said North Korea has about 10 of these Sang-o class submarines, which weigh 330 tons and can carry 21 people.
The main question left unanswered last night was what the submarine was doing there in the first place. Some speculated it beached while dropping off military agents trying to infiltrate South Korea. Others thought the sub might have been sent to pick up another agent already in place. Still others said the sub might have been on a routine training mission gone awry, and nobody could rule out the captured man's explanation that the sub's engine failed.
South Koreans pondered the whys yesterday as television news showed nearly continuous footage of the dark-hulled submarine foundering helplessly in heavy surf a few yards off a craggy section of coast.
Clues from the sub itself shed little light. Yonhap news agency said the items on the sub included machine guns, ammunition, a yellow life jacket, an aviation jumper, blue jeans, four green T-shirts, a key holder, a dagger, a plastic ball-point pen and a package of North Korean chewing gum.
Briefing the National Assembly in Seoul yesterday morning, Gen. Chung Hwa Un said a note also was found aboard the ship. It said, "We accomplish mission without fail." Chung offered no explanation for the note. Other reports yesterday said that a note proclaiming loyalty to North Korea's enigmatic Stalinist leader, Kim Jong Il, also was discovered on the ship.
There have been more than 300 reported cases of North Korean agents attempting to infiltrate South Korea since the 1960s, including several in the past year. Last October, one North Korean was captured and another was tracked and killed in a similarly comprehensive South Korean manhunt.
In July, a history professor at a Seoul university admitted that he was a North Korean agent who had spied for his country over the past decade. He had disguised himself as a Filipino and had married a South Korean nurse.
Yesterday's incident was the bloodiest since 1968, when 31 North Koreans came across the border and reached the presidential Blue House in Seoul before engaging in a gun battle with South Korean soldiers. Twenty-eight of the North Koreans were killed, along with 34 South Korean troops, police and civilians.
Some South Koreans yesterday said it was particularly upsetting that North Korea continued hostile acts toward them after South Korea sent 150,000 tons of rice to the North last year to aid with food shortages.
"I feel so betrayed," said Cho Kun Young, a Seoul taxi driver. "We send them rice; they send us spies."