`N. Korea wants 5 Yellow Sea islands uninhabited`

December 2, 2010

DECEMBER 03, 2010 05:40

North Korea wants five South Korean islands in the Yellow Sea to become

uninhabited in an apparent bid to claim them in the wake of the North`s shelling

of Yeonpyeong Island, a leading politician said Thursday.

Lawmakers urged the South Korean military to thoroughly prepare for such a

contingency.

Ruling Grand National Party Rep. Chung Doo-un said in a supreme council meeting,

" Many experts say the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island is intended to turn the five

Yellow Sea islands into deserted territory and make them subject to a

territorial dispute. "

" If North Korea commits another provocation, it will likely attack and occupy Wu

Island, a deserted island located six kilometers from the Northern Limit Line

and eight kilometers from North Korea's Hampak Island. "

Wu is strategically located between Incheon and the five islands, with Wu having

just one combat company with handguns.

Chung said, " If Wu Island becomes helpless, residents of the five islands in the

Yellow Sea are likely to flee their islands, and that is exactly what North

Korea wants. If this is the case, the five islands will likely to be isolated.

The port of Incheon and Incheon International Airport are only 80 kilometers

from Wu and could be threatened. "

Another member of the supreme council, Rep. Hong Jun-pyo, proposed the formation

of a 100,000-strong Marine special forces command combining Marines and special

forces. " North Korea has special forces comprising more than 200,000 soldiers,

but ours are only a tenth of theirs at around 30,000. "

He said the party in the 2002 presidential election pledged to create a Marine

special forces command and a four-military system comprising the Army, Navy, Air

Force and a Marine special forces command.

" Back (in 2002), we weren't able to carry this out because we lost (the

election), and when I was on the parliamentary defense committee last year,

every military branch was against it, " he said. " Even now, the presidential

office might need to consider the formation of a Marine-naval special forces

command as part of government reform. "

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