Koreas in exchange of fire as tension grows at sea border
Source: Agencies |
January 28, 2010, Thursday
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NORTH Korea fired artillery rounds toward its sea border with South Korea yesterday, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South's military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula.
No casualties or damage were reported.
North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its western coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The North said it would continue to fire rounds.
The South Korean officer said the North's artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South had fired into the air.
The western sea border - drawn by the American-led United Nations Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War - is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas, with the North insisting the line be moved farther south.
Navy ships of the two Koreas fought a brief gunbattle in November that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. They engaged in similar bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea issued a statement later yesterday saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so. Such drills "will go on in the same waters in the future," the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army said.
The North fired more shots later in the day, but South Korea didn't respond.
The exchange of fire came two days after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean-held waters.
South Korea's Defense Ministry sent the North's military a message yesterday expressing serious concern about the firing and saying it fostered "unnecessary tension" between the two sides.
It also urged the North to retract the no-sail zones, calling them a "grave provocation" and a violation of the Korean War armistice. The war ended with a truce, but not a formal peace treaty.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it was the first time that North Korea has fired artillery toward the sea border.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said the North Korean artillery shells were believed to have fallen into the no-sail zones about 3 kilometers north of the maritime border.
No casualties or damage were reported.
North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its western coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The North said it would continue to fire rounds.
The South Korean officer said the North's artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South had fired into the air.
The western sea border - drawn by the American-led United Nations Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War - is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas, with the North insisting the line be moved farther south.
Navy ships of the two Koreas fought a brief gunbattle in November that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. They engaged in similar bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea issued a statement later yesterday saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so. Such drills "will go on in the same waters in the future," the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army said.
The North fired more shots later in the day, but South Korea didn't respond.
The exchange of fire came two days after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean-held waters.
South Korea's Defense Ministry sent the North's military a message yesterday expressing serious concern about the firing and saying it fostered "unnecessary tension" between the two sides.
It also urged the North to retract the no-sail zones, calling them a "grave provocation" and a violation of the Korean War armistice. The war ended with a truce, but not a formal peace treaty.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it was the first time that North Korea has fired artillery toward the sea border.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said the North Korean artillery shells were believed to have fallen into the no-sail zones about 3 kilometers north of the maritime border.
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