S: Korea hunts rogue soldier

On Sunday, South Korean special forces were engaged in a search for the army sergeant who shot dead five members of his own unit and wounded seven more.

The 23-year-old, surnamed Lim, attacked his comrades at a post on the eastern section of the heavily guarded border between North and South Korea.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the soldier had thrown a grenade before opening fire upon returnng after his shift. Lim fled, taking with him a K2 assault rifle and a supply of ammunition and grenades.

As soon as dawn broke, military helicopters were scouring the forested hillsides of a mountainous region that borders North Korea.

"We have secured a cordon that will prevent him from entering areas where civilians live. We have notified village foremen to make sure residents do not move around and report to us if they spot the shooter," the official said.

Special forces were among those deployed to help with the hunt, taking place in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. A colonel with the army said the number of personnel involved in the search was the equivalent of nine battalions.

Criticized for lax discipline

The demilitarized zone is a 4-kilometer-wide (2.5 miles) stretch of land that has served as a buffer zone between the two states since the end of the 1950 to 53 Korean War.

South Korea's military has been criticized before for lax discipline in some units, as well as a failure to identify and prevent previous cases in which soldiers, some of them suffering personal problems, have killed ther comrades.

Lim had been scheduled for discharge within the next few months, having completed a compulsory period of national service.

rc/mkg (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)