(Seoul) South Korea’s military fired warning shots at a North Korean ship on Monday morning, believing it had crossed the disputed maritime border between the two countries, drawing in return North Korean warning shots, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Posted at 7:14 p.m.
Updated at 7:54 p.m.
The North Korean merchant ship reportedly crossed the border between the two countries near Baengnyeong Island at 3:42 a.m. local time and then retreated north after warning shots from the South Korean navy, said said the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to Yonhap.
For its part, the Pyongyang army claimed that a South Korean military vessel violated the de facto border of 2.5 to 5 kilometers a few minutes later and the North Korean army (APC) responded by firing ten warning shots to his attention from his west coast.
“APC Western Littoral Defense Units took a first countermeasure to powerfully repel the enemy warship by firing 10 multiple rocket launcher rounds towards territorial waters, where an enemy naval movement was detected, at 5:15 a.m.,” an APC staff spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have once again issued a stern warning to the enemies behind maritime provocations which come on top of artillery fire and the broadcasting of cross-border messages through loudspeakers,” a spokesperson for the agency said. North Korean Army General Staff.
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The maritime border, considered a hot spot, has been the scene of several clashes between the two Koreas over the years.
But tensions have escalated in recent weeks, with Pyongyang carrying out several missile launches and artillery barrages deemed provocative by South Korea and Japan.
Pyongyang has dramatically increased its military maneuvers recently, as Seoul and Washington claim North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to carry out what would be his country’s seventh nuclear test.
Monday’s warning firefight comes the day Deputy US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman travels to Japan for three-way talks with Tokyo and Seoul, both Washington allies, in a show of unity after the series of fire from North Korea.
During October, Pyongyang engaged in displays of military force, launching a short-range ballistic missile, firing multiple artillery rounds and sending fighter jets close to the South Korean border. .
The artillery fire took place in its waters on its east and west coasts, in violation of a “buffer zone” established during a 2018 agreement with the South to prevent incidents at sea.
Pyongyang claims to be responding to “provocations” from Seoul and has described these weapons tests as simulations of “tactical nuclear strikes” against targets in South Korea.