Ships exchange fire on North-South Korea sea border
Incident triggered when North Korean patrol boat violated South Korean territorial waters, Seoul claims
Patrol boats from North and South Korea clashed off the west coast of the peninsula on Tuesday morning, with the North Korean vessel withdrawing after a brief exchange of gunfire.
The incident occurred at around 9:50am in waters near Yeonpyeong Island – close to where the South Korean corvette Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo in 2010, apparently by North Korea – according to a statement issued by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The area has been the site of a number of clashes in recent years as North Korea does not recognise the sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line, that was set by the United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The South Korean authorities said the incident was triggered when the North Korean vessel crossed the NLL.
"To force the vessel to retreat, our side issued warning messages and fired a warning shot," Yonhap News quoted the JCS as saying.
"But the North Korean vessel fired back rather than backing down, which caused us to fire again," it added. "Then the ship made a retreat."
There were no injuries or damage on the South Korean vessel, while the North Korean patrol boat appeared to also have escaped undamaged.
However, the confrontation is still likely to dampen optimism that the North is edging closer to negotiations with the South to normalise their frayed ties.
On Saturday, three senior members of the Pyongyang regime paid a surprise visit to the South Korean city of Incheon, where the closing ceremonies for the Asian Games were being held.
Chung Hong-won, the South Korean president, held a 14-minute meeting with the delegation from Pyongyang and although both sides avoided discussion of sensitive topics that have dogged bilateral relations, Chung emerged expressing hopes that the visit might just serve as the breakthrough that Seoul has been seeking.
The most concrete development was that the North Korean side agreed to resume reconciliation talks in late October or early November.
source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11145123/Ships-exchange-fire-on-North-South-Korea-sea-border.html
