A GROUNDED North Korean submarine off the east coast of South Korea, and a line of bodies each shot in the face, yesterday posed the latest mystery in the bizarre saga of inter Korean relations.
The submarine was believed to have been carrying 20 men when it ran aground on a reef of Kangnung, 90 miles north east of. Seoul. South Korea's Defence Ministry said the submarine contained a team of infiltrators and was still searching for eight believed to be at large last night.
Ten bodies were found close together, with an 11th a short distance away. The Seoul spokesman speculated that the last man had shot the others perhaps under orders to avoid arrest before killing himself.
Pyongyang has denied previous claims of infiltration, but will find it hard to disclaim ownership of the Sango class submarine, made in North Korea from a Yugoslav design.
It is possible that the submarine grounded while on an exercise the circumstances under which the men then died have not yet been verified.
A Korean television station said last night that one captured intruder said the submarine developed engine trouble shortly after leaving its home port of Wonsan on Monday and drifted across the border.
If this was a serious infiltration attempt, it is in sharp contradiction to Pyongyang's efforts to win sympathy and foreign aid to cope with severe food shortages following two summers of disastrous floods.
North Korea has just entertained more than 400 foreign businessmen, diplomats and journalists in its new free trade area on its border with China and Russia. Last weekend an international business forum, jointly sponsored by Pyongyang and the UN, opened in the area, known as the Rajin Sonbong Free Economic and Trade Zone.
North Korea, under its "great leader", Mr Kim Jong-il, appears to be pursuing a policy of gradual detente, seeking to develop more normal relations with the US while keeping South Korea at arm's length.
Pyongyang has recently proposed signing a "tentative agreement" with the US to replace the 1953 armistice this is a slight climb down from its previous demand for a fully fledged treaty.
However, the inner workings of North Korean politics remain as obscure as ever. There have been hints of disagreement between elements in the armed forces and the Workers' Party. Party meetings have stressed a need to defend the leadership of Mr Kim Jong-il from unnamed detractors.
South Korea also pursues an ambivalent policy towards the north. It has provided food aid to Pyongyang and is participating in the Rajin Sonbong Zone.
But Seoul's security law still bans any unauthorised contacts or exchanges with North Korea.
On Tuesday, 38 students were indicted under the law, after recent demonstrations at Yonsei University which called for unity with North Korea. Another 400 students were charged with taking part in acts of alleged violence.
Last night, a night curfew was imposed on the coastal area where the North Koreans were found after thousands of security personnel using sniffer dogs and backed by helicopters had spent the day combing scrub land.
The last alleged case of infiltration occurred by land in October last year, when one man was killed in a much smaller incident.
More than 900 US prisoners of war may have been left behind in North Korea when the Korean War ended in 1953, according to a newly declassified memo and testimony at a US House of Representatives hearing on Tuesday. More than 100 of them may have been subjected to deadly medical experiments and then executed, witnesses told a National Security subcommittee.