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

South Korean forces shot warning shots at a North Korean merchant vessel that reportedly rammed the disputed sea border into the Yellow Sea for up to an hour, according to officials in Seoul.

The South Korean military reported that the ship advanced 5 km (3. 1 miles) south of the demarcation line while crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) near Baengnyeong, which is close to the south Korean border island of Baengnyeong, at around 5 a.m. local time on Friday (20:00 GMT).

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

The North Korean merchant ship retreated from our territorial waters after receiving a warning from our military, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

According to the JCS, “our military closely monitored the movements of North Korea and responded in accordance with operational procedures.”

Authorities also reported that a South Korean navy convoy was operating in the area at the time of the border breach when the North Korean ship retreated from the South’s maritime control area after receiving numerous warning shots from the military.

Kim Son-gyeong, North Korea’s vice foreign minister, is scheduled to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, which is also the subject of the incident.

The incident has not yet been addressed in North Korea.

The JCS added in its statement that “we will firmly maintain our readiness posture and resolutely take action whenever necessary to protect the NLL.”

The incident on Friday marks a North Korean ship’s first infiltration into the NLL in three years.

A South Korean warship fired warning shots at a North Korean merchant vessel as it crossed the demarcation line in October 2022.

In response, North Korea’s military fired ten rounds of artillery as warning shots in the direction of the South’s territorial waters.

The two countries have long had a tense relationship over the disputed sea boundary off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, which has resulted in numerous fatal confrontations, including the North’s alleged torpedoing of a South Korean navy ship that killed 46 sailors that year.

The NLL was established after the Korean War of 1950 and 1953, but North Korea does not recognize it because it claims that the sea border is further south of the current boundary line.