SOUTH Korean security forces exchanged gunfire early today with one or two North Korean infiltrators, a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
The clash with survivors of a group of possibly 26 infiltrators landed by submarine in South Korea on Wednesday took place on a hillside near the east coast city of Kangnung at 1 a.m. GMT. No further details were given.
Seoul authorities believe up to seven North Korean agents may be holed up in the Kangnung area, close to a beach where the submarine was spotted early on Wednesday grounded on a reef.
Yesterday, South Korean troops using loudhailers pleaded with the remnants of the North Korean infiltration group to surrender, while the US urged "all parties" to stay calm.
Troops broadcast the message to a half dozen or so agents they believe may be holed up in a rugged mountain area pitted with disused coal mines.
"You are surrounded. If you abandon your weapons and surrender you can live. Most of your colleagues have been shot to death. We urge you to surrender immediately," an army officer shouted through a loudhailer on a military jeep.
Authorities now believe that possibly 26 North Koreans came ashore early on Wednesday from a submarine near Kangnung. So far, 18 have been shot and killed and one has been captured.
Political shockwaves from the incident spread wider, clouding prospects for a US South Korean peace initiative for the divided Korean peninsula.
In Washington, the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, urged "all parties" to avoid further provocative action. Seoul said it would brief the UN Security Council on the drama and Japan denounced the incident as "deplorable".
North Korea accused South Korea of taking "provocative action" near the border earlier this week but made no reference to the submarine incident.
Mr Christopher told a news conference: "We wish that all parties would refrain from taking further provocative actions." The US has 37,000 troops stationed in the South to deter any North Korean attack.
Japan hit out at its close neighbour across the sea.
"We have an interest in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and it is deplorable that North Korea has brought about this incident," a government spokesman, Mr Seiroku Kajiyama, told a news conference.