South Korea Turns Spy Sub to Plowshare
SEOUL: From act of war to tourist attraction: 18 months after a North Korean submarine ran aground on South Korean shores and sent both nations to the diplomatic brink, Seoul will turn the stranded sub into a $5.7 million "national security education center" -- in other words, a museum.
Authorities at Kangnung, 100 miles east of Seoul, will break ground Thursday; when the museum is completed in 1999, its lighted displays will doubtless tell the home-country version of the incident: that the 1,200-ton vessel was on a spy mission. All but two of its 26-man crew were hunted down or found dead by South Korean security forces. At least the museum should be popular with North Korean defectors on holiday.
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