A terribly damaged North Korean patrol ship retreated in flames Tuesday after a battle with a South Korean naval vessel along their disputed western coast, as disclosed by South Korean officials.

The Houston Chronicle reports that, "the first naval clash in seven years just a week before President Barack Obama is due to visit Seoul, raising suspicions the North's communist regime is trying to rachet up tensions to gain a negotiating advantage."

No South Korean casualties were reported, the nation's Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed in a statement, and it was not immediately certain if there were any casualties in the North Korean side. Each country blamed the other for supposedly violating the sea border.

The naval incident occurred when U.S. officials announced that Obama has decided to send a special envoy to Pyongyang for rare direct talks on the Stalinist nation's nuclear weapons program. No date has been set yet, but the negotiations would be the first one-on-one talks since Obama was sworn into office in January.

Shin yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in Seoul, said, "it was an internal provocation by North Korea to draw attention ahead of Obama's visit.

According to the Chronicle, "he also said the North was sending a message to Obama that it wants to replace the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953 with a permanent peace treaty while keeping its nuclear weapons."

Washington has consistently called for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal for any peace treaty to be signed. since 2006, North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear tests and is believed to hold enough weaponized plutonium for about six atomic weapons.

South Korean Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik, told reporters in Seoul that, "we are sternly protesting to North Korea and urging it to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents."

As reported by the Chronicle, "North Korea's military issued a statement blaming South Korea for the 'graved armed provocation,' saying its ships crossed into North Korean territory."

To read the entire article from the Houston Chronicle, link here:

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