South Korea’s fires warning shots as North Korean ship crosses sea boundary

South Korean subject fired dozens of informing shots astatine a North Korean vas that crossed the contested Northern Limit Line oversea boundary.

Seoul, South Korea – South Korean forces fired informing shots astatine a North Korean merchant vas that crossed the disputed oversea borderline betwixt the 2 countries successful the Yellow Sea for up to an hour, officials said.

The North Korean vas crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) adjacent the South Korean borderline land of Baengnyeong astatine astir 5am section clip connected Friday (20:00 GMT) and remained connected the confederate broadside of the maritime frontier for an hr portion besides advancing up to 5km (3.1 miles) southbound of the demarcation line, South Korea’s subject said.

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“Our subject broadcasted a informing and fired informing shots, aft which the North Korean merchant vessel retreated from our territorial waters,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said successful a statement.

“Our subject intimately monitored North Korea’s movements and responded successful accordance with operational procedures,” the JCS said.

The North Korean vessel retreated from the South’s maritime power country aft dozens of informing shots were fired by the South Korean military, according to authorities who besides reported that a South Korean navy convoy was conducting operations successful the country astatine the clip of the borderline breach.

The incidental besides takes spot arsenic North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyeong is scheduled to be the 80th United Nations General Assembly gathering successful New York.

North Korea has not yet commented connected the incident.

Anti-landing spikes placed by the South Korean subject are seen during debased tide connected the formation connected the land of Baengnyeong, which lies connected the South Korean broadside of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) successful the Yellow Sea [File: Damir Sagolj/Reuters]

“We volition firmly support our readiness posture and respond resolutely to immoderate concern to safeguard the NLL,” the JCS added successful its statement.

Friday’s incidental marks the archetypal intrusion beyond the NLL by a North Korean vas successful 3 years.

In October 2022, a North Korean merchant vas besides violated the demarcation line and was chased distant by informing shots from a South Korean warship.

North Korea’s subject besides fired 10 rounds of artillery shells arsenic informing shots towards the South’s territorial waters successful response.

The disputed oversea bound disconnected the Korean Peninsula’s westbound seashore is simply a root of long-running animosities betwixt the 2 countries and has led to respective fatal confrontations, including North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean land successful 2010 and the North’s alleged torpedoing of a South Korean navy vessel that killed 46 sailors the aforesaid year.

As the de facto maritime borderline betwixt the Koreas, the NLL was drawn up aft the 1950–53 Korean War, but it is not recognised by North Korea, which claims the oversea borderline is further to the southbound of the existent bound line.

Last year, North Korean person Kim Jong Un denounced the oversea bound arsenic “illicit and lawless”, portion calling for a redefining of his country’s borders.