South Korean Troops Kill Suspected Spy From North

Surrounded by a cordon of 20,000 troops, a suspected North Korean spy who had escaped a shootout three days earlier was shot and killed today in mountains 100 miles southwest of Seoul in the second intrusion into South Korea in the past 10 days, police announced.

The alleged spy--identified by a compatriot who was captured Tuesday as Park Kwang Nam, 31--opened fire on commando teams sweeping the area, police said. He was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.

Kim Do Shik, 33, the suspected agent who was captured Tuesday in a shootout in which one police officer was killed and two were wounded, was reported to have told police that he and Park had been sent to South Korea to escort back to North Korea an agent who was planted in the area near the city of Puyo 10 years ago.

The two-man infiltration about 100 miles south of the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea--combined with an intrusion by at least two suspected North Korean agents, one of whom was killed, at the Imjin River near Seoul on Oct. 17--raised serious questions about North Korea’s intentions.

In a 1994 agreement with the United States, North Korea gave up what was widely thought to be a program to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of two light-water nuclear-power generators and better relations with Washington.

North Korea is thought to be seeking economic help, including investment from American and Western business people. But in a key provision of the 1994 agreement, meaningful dialogue between North and South Korea was made a prerequisite to improved North Korea-U.S. ties.

At the same time, the Pyongyang government has been claiming that the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War is no longer valid. Some U.S. and South Korean officials have warned that North Korea might provoke incursions or border incidents to press its demand for a full-fledged peace treaty with the United States, a demand that Washington has rejected.

A South Korean government spokesman issued a statement today demanding that North Korea cease its intrusions into the South.

Acting on a tip, police tried to arrest the two infiltrators Tuesday. The man identified as Kim Do Shik was shot in the leg and captured, but his compatriot, Park Kwang Nam, escaped. A force of 20,000 South Korean solders, a small portion of the nation’s 650,000 armed forces, cordoned off the mountain area as police searched for him with helicopters, dogs and a high-tech device used to identify all living creatures in a 2.5-mile radius.

It was unknown whether this week’s infiltrators had succeeded in contacting the North Korean spy reportedly planted 10 years ago or whether the captured agent had revealed the identity of the “mole.”