The South Korean government has fired warning shots in response to a vessel deployed by North Korea amid the tension between the two nations.
South Korea fired warning shots Targeting the North Korean vessel that reportedly crossed the maritime border on Saturday amid the disputes over the North’s missile tests.
In an official statement released by the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), it was revealed that the South Korean military launched the warning shots and broadcast warnings to forcefully expel the North Korean patrol boat that allegedly breached the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary.
The JCS said in a statement on Sunday that “Our military maintains decisive battle posture while monitoring the enemy’s movements in preparation for potential provocations regarding NLL violations by North Korean patrol boats.”
The JCS also reportedly added that “during the operations, a South Korean patrol ship came into “minor contact” with a nearby Chinese fishing vessel due to bad visibility, resulting in no safety issues but slight injuries among the South Korean crew,” New York Post reported.
According to the report, “the North’s incursion came as tension flared over the North’s stepped-up military activities in recent weeks, including Friday’s test of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile which experts say would facilitate missile launches with little warning.”
“Since the 1990s, Pyongyang has disputed the NLL – drawn up at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War – arguing it should lie far to the south. Last October, the two Koreas traded warning shots in the western waters, accusing each other of breaching the sea border in an area where confrontations have often occurred,” it added.
Pyongyang sparked controversy after it threatened to conduct military actions following the annual springtime exercises that were conducted by South Korea and U.S. forces since March, labeling the move as a rehearsal for nuclear war.
Just this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un demanded to strengthen war deterrence in a “more practical and offensive” manner as part of the nation’s efforts to counter what the isolated country called “moves of aggression by the United States and South Korea,” NYPost reported.
According to Washington and Seoul, the drills they conducted are merely defensive that aims to deter the North.
