Fighteeng!

Talk about mixed signals… ever dated a girl who was a sweetheart one second and then a psycho the next?  Well, that’s not exactly a fair comparison with the volatile behavior of North Korea, but what happened today comes close.

The New York Times reports that North Korea is turning over a new leaf by almost apologizing for the deaths caused by the “accidental” flooding of Imjin river.

“It was regrettable that unintended human casualties occurred,” a North Korean delegate told South Korean officials during the meeting at a North Korean border town on Wednesday.

The North also offered condolences to the bereaved families, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said. South Korea was pressing the North to agree to a joint flood-control system to prevent similar episodes.

“We see this as an expression of North Korean intentions to improve ties with us,” said Park Sun-kyoo, a presidential spokesman in Seoul. “This is a very positive signal.”

The warm fuzzies wouldn’t last long. Less than 24 hours later, North Korea appears to have made up another incident to rattle its sabers.

North Korea accused the South on Thursday of intruding into its territorial waters, further raising tension on the peninsula already heightened by the North’s launch this week of a barrage of short-range missiles…

“The reckless military provocations by warships of the South Korean navy have created such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides in these waters,” the North’s KCNA news agency quoted a military official as saying.

Damn… those are fighting words! Well at least the North Korean did send out a warning this time, unlike the river flood.

Looks like we finally have accountability in the deaths of the campers who drowned during the mysterious Imjin river flood earlier this month.  The Korea Herald reports:

“An employee of the Korea Water Resources Corp., surnamed Song, and an employee of the Yeoncheon county office, surnamed Koh, face charges of dereliction of duty and professional negligence that resulted in deaths.”

Don't you guys monitor EVERYTHING along the DMZ?

Apparently, both should have known or did know about the rising water levels but failed to do notify anyone.  While this may serve as some measure of justice to the aggrieved families, I’m surprised that – after decades of being technically at war with the North and knowing their history of volatile, unpredictable behavior – the South Korean military, with all of  its advanced technology and 24/7 surveillance with US backing, doesn’t appear to have a river monitoring system of its own.

Holding civilian authorities accountable seems misplaced given that one might possibly argue that the flood was an act of war. For its part, North Korea explains it away as some kind of accident, that “a sudden surge in the dam’s water level” caused the emergency release, which doesn’t seem plausible given the lack of rain at the time. Indeed, Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek opinionated,

“I think the North did it intentionally.”

Maybe.  Who knows for sure?  I’ve asked seven of my Korean friends, from late 20’s to late 40’s, and they all believe it to be an accident.  Or perhaps, that’s what they want the waygookin to believe.

Accident or not, if North Korea can manage to secretly carve out a third tunnel back in 1978, they sure are capable of weaponizing a dam in 2009. Nothing I’ve read so far has questioned the military’s preparedness over this matter.