S. Korea fires warning shots, seizes N. Korea fishing boat

[Lumix]

S. Korea fires warning shots, seizes N. Korea fishing boat

AFP
March 28, 2014, 2:21 am

Seoul (AFP) - A South Korean naval ship fired warning shots Thursday and seized a North Korean fishing boat intruding across the disputed Yellow Sea border, military officials said.

The vessel sailed a nautical mile south of the sea boundary at 5:26 pm (0826 GMT), prompting a South Korean patrol ship to take action, the South's defence ministry said.

"Our side fired warning shots as the North Korean vessel ignored repeated warnings to retreat," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The vessel with three people aboard was captured about two hours later as it failed to sail back into northern waters probably due to foggy weather and strong currents, he said.

The vessel's crew will be investigated to see whether the incursion was accidental, he said.

The spokesman said a tough response from South Korea was inevitable given the high tensions along the disputed sea boundary.

The South Korean naval ship radioed a message to a North Korea military vessel staying near the sea boundary that the seizure was aimed at ensuring the safety of the crew, he said.

The maritime border, which Pyongyang does not officially recognise, was the scene of brief but bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

North Korean incursions over the maritime border are not unusual.

A North Korean patrol boat violated the sea boundary on February 25 at the start of South Korea-US military drills, and retreated after warnings from the South Korean navy.

Thursday's incursion came after nearly 15,000 South Korean and US troops kicked off a 12-day amphibious landing drill, the largest for two decades.

The joint military exercise is taking place off the country's southeast coast. It will last until April 7 and involve around 10,000 US troops.

North Korea views such exercises as provocative rehearsals for invasion and there is a risk they could further fuel already simmering military tensions.

Pyongyang has carried out a series of rocket and short-range missile launches in recent weeks, sparking condemnation from Seoul and Washington.

On Wednesday, it upped the ante by test-firing two mid-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Japan.

United Nations resolutions prohibit North Korea from conducting ballistic missile tests and the UN Security Council was set to hold closed-door consultations Thursday to discuss a possible condemnation of the latest missile launches.

 

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South Korea sends back stray North Korean fishing boat

SEOUL Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:39pm EDT

(Reuters) - South Korea on Friday sent back a North Korean fishing boat that had drifted across a disputed maritime border off the west coast, the defense ministry said, defusing tensions in an area which has been the scene of deadly clashes in recent years.

South Korea's military had seized the boat after it ignored warnings to retreat, but later confirmed the vessel had experienced engine failure and the three crewmen had no wish to defect to the South, a ministry official said.

The incident came as the North faced renewed pressure from the international community after it fired two mid-range missiles on Wednesday just as the leaders of the South, Japan and the United States pledged to curb its arms ambitions.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday condemned the missile launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and will hold discussions on a response, Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, who is the council president, said.

North Korea refuses to recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line that has been the naval border since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The two sides have been technically at war ever since, as the fighting ended with a truce, not a treaty.

North Korean navy vessels crossed the line in 1999 and 2002 that led to clashes that killed an unidentified number of sailors on both sides.

A South Korean navy ship was sunk four years ago near the area of the latest infringement. An international team of investigators said it was torpedoed by the North, but Pyongyang denies the charge and calls it "a farce". Months later the North bombarded a village on South Korean island in the same area, killing four people.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)