S. Korean military fires warning shots at N. Korean ship crossing NLL

SEOUL, Oct, 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Monday it has fired warning shots at a North Korean ship that intruded into the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, the de facto maritime border.

A North Korean commercial vessel crossed the NLL near the front-line island of Baengnyeong at 3:42 a.m. and retreated northwards after the South's Navy issued warning messages and fired warning shots, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The North's ships have frequently intruded past the NLL, as it has long demanded that the line be moved farther south.

But the North Korean military claimed a South Korean warship violated the western sea border by 2.5-5 kilometers at 3:50 a.m. and the Korean People's Army (KPA) fired 10 rounds of warning shots at it.

"We once again sternly warned to enemies that staged maritime provocations on top of the firing of artillery shots and cross-border loudspeaker broadcasts," a spokesman for the KPA General Staff said in a statement carried by the North's state media.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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