North and South Korea Exchange Warning Shots At Maritime Border

Illustration of South Korean artillery exercises. (Wikimedia Commons/Republic of Korea Armed Forces)

JAKARTA - North Korea fired a rocket launcher in response to warning shots fired by South Korea, in tension at the two countries' maritime border on Monday.

Pyongyang fired 10 artillery shells off its west coast, state media KCNA said, in response to South Korean warning shots fired at a North Korean ship crossing the sea border between the two Koreas.

North Korean fire was fired from multiple rocket launchers at about 5:15 a.m. local time, after the South Korean military fired warning shots at about 3:50 p.m. local time citing patrol activity, a spokesman for the General Staff of the North Korean People's Council said.

"The General Staff of the Korean People's Army ordered to fire 10 shots from multiple rocket launchers to resolutely resend enemy ships," the North Korean spokesman said in a statement carried by KCNA, citing Reuters Oct. 24.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had sent back a North Korean merchant ship that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas, reported the Korea Times.

A North Korean commercial ship crossed the NLL near the frontline island of Baengnyeong at 3:42 am local time, retreating north after the South Korean Navy issued a warning message and fired warning shots, according to the JCS.

It is known that North Korean ships frequently break through the NLL, having long demanded that the route be moved further south.