Two missing in Korean collision

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A South Korean vessel and a North Korean fishing boat have collided, leaving two North Korean sailors missing, South Korean officials say.

The two boats hit at around 0200 (1700 GMT Monday) east of the Korean peninsula, a military official said.

Two other members of the North Korean crew were rescued, he said. The cause of the collision was not known.

The incident comes amid rising tensions between the two sides over the killing of a South Korean tourist.

Housewife Park Wang-ja, 53, was shot dead by a soldier on 11 July on a beach near the Mount Kumgang resort.

North Korea said she had strayed deep inside a restricted military zone and failed to heed warnings. South Korea wants access to the scene so that it can conduct its own investigation.

Cooling ties

The Southern dredger was carrying sand from North Korea when the collision took place, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said.

Crew members rescued two of the North Korean sailors but two remained missing, he said.

The South Korean ship is now on its way to Jangjon Port in the North for questioning, the spokesman said. South Korea wants access to the site of the Mount Kumgang shooting

"We have not been officially informed of the accident either by the North or by the maritime affairs authorities of the two countries," Yonhap news agency quoted Mr Kim as saying.

"We're now trying to determine the exact cause of the accident and the scale of damage incurred by the ships."

The incident is likely to further strain already tense ties between the two sides.

Cross-border relations have worsened since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office and pledged a tougher stance towards his communist neighbour.

He has linked the flow of aid to progress on nuclear disarmament and human rights, angering the North, and the row over the Mount Kumgang shooting came as a further blow to bilateral ties.

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games last week, the two sides did not march together - as they did in both 2000 and 2004.