North Korea Threatens South Over Naval Clash

South Koreans watch a television screen showing undated file footage of a South Korean Navy ship...

South Koreans watch a television screen showing undated file footage of a South Korean Navy ship near the disputed waters off South Korea's west coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, South Korean military officials said.

(Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

North Korea threatened to punish South Korea following their brief-but-bloody naval firefight, though analysts said Thursday that chances of retaliation appeared slim ahead of planned talks between the U.S. and Pyongyang.

Tuesday's battle near the disputed western sea border left one North Korean officer dead and three others wounded, according to a senior South Korean military officer. Both sides have accused the other of provoking the two-minute battle and Pyongyang has threatened consequences.

"Warmongers will be forced to pay a costly price," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Thursday in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "We never utter empty words."

A North Korean navy patrol vessel is believed to have been towed by another North Korean ship to a nearby base after South Korean ships fired some 4,950 rounds, said an official with Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff. He asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity.

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Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, downplayed the significance of the North's threats, saying they were carried in newspaper commentaries rather than in government or military statements — which carry more weight.

The North's military issued a statement Tuesday blaming the South for the clash but has not made any threat or mention of retaliation itself.

Analysts believe a planned trip to Pyongyang by a U.S. official would make it difficult for Pyongyang to take retaliatory steps against the South anytime soon.

President Barack Obama, due to arrive in Seoul on Nov. 18 amid a regional tour, plans to send special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang by year's end for the first direct talks with the North during his administration.

Bosworth's trip is aimed at persuading communist North Korea to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations, which Pyongyang walked away from earlier this year.