South Korea wants peace with North, says Kim

President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea will push ahead with his "sunshine" policy of trying to seek reconciliation with North Korea, despite a skirmish that killed at least four South Korean sailors.

"We will maintain the sunshine policy of firm security and peaceful resolution efforts," the President told a state dinner in Tokyo hosted by the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi.

Hundreds of sailors and relatives wept as coffins draped with South Korean flags were carried into a gymnasium at a Seoul military hospital yesterday in a funeral service for the four servicemen.

"That can't be my husband," wailed widow Kang Jung-sun, whose husband, Sergeant Cho Chun-hyong, was among the dead. "He will come back if I go home and wait."

On Saturday, two North Korean patrol vessels accompanying fishing boats crossed a disputed border in the Yellow Sea. One opened fire on a South Korean navy boat after ignoring warnings, South Korea said. Nineteen sailors were wounded and one is still missing.

The firing hit the steering room of the South Korean ship, causing it to sink. The South Korean military said North Korea suffered about 30 casualties in the fight, though independent confirmation was not possible.

North Korea has refused South Korean demands for an apology, saying the maritime border where the clash happened was illegally imposed by the United States at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The UN-drawn boundary left fishing grounds in the hands of South Korea. North Korea is in the grip of a severe food shortage. (AP)