Two Koreas exchange warning shots near maritime border amid tensions
World
North Korea fired 10 shells after the South Korean military fired warning shots at around.
SEOUL (Agencies) - North Korea fired 10 artillery shells off its west coast on Monday (Oct 24), the North s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, in response to South Korea s warning shots fired at a North Korean boat that crossed the two Koreas maritime border.
North Korea fired 10 shells of multiple rocket launchers at around 5.15 am (4.15am Singapore time) after the South Korean military fired warning shots at around 3.50am citing patrol activities, a spokesman for the General Staff of the North s Korean People s Army said.
The South s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it sent back a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto sea boundary between the two Koreas.
"The General Staff of the Korean People s Army ... ordered to fire 10 shots from multiple rocket launchers to sternly send back the enemy s vessel," the North Korean spokesman said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
"We once again sternly warned (the) enemies that staged maritime provocations on top of the firing of artillery shots and cross-border loudspeaker broadcasts," the spokesman added, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The maritime border is considered a flashpoint, and has been the location of several clashes between the two Koreas over the years.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks with North Korea conducting several missile launches and artillery barrages that have provoked South Korea and Japan and worried their Western allies.
Pyongyang has dramatically ramped up its military exercises recently as Seoul and Washington say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is close to conducting what would be his country s seventh nuclear test.
Monday s exchange of warning fire comes on the same day United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visits Japan and holds three-way talks with Japan and South Korea, both allies, in a show of unity after North Korea s slew of launches.
