SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korean forces have fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol boat that was temporarily crossing the border in disputed western waters while chasing a Chinese fishing boat, the South Korean military said. Announced.
A North Korean patrol boat crossed the so-called northern border around 11 a.m. Saturday while chasing a Chinese vessel in waters near South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island, after South Korean naval vessels fired warning shots. withdrew immediately, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.
There was no exchange of fire between North and South Korean ships, but a South Korean high-speed vessel collided with a Chinese boat while responding to an invasion in poor visibility, leaving some South Korean sailors bruised. suffered minor injuries such as
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South Korean military is closely monitoring North Korea’s military activities and is prepared for various possible provocations.
The South Korean navy has often fired warning shots to repel North Korean ships crossing poorly marked borders, but there have also been several fatal collisions over the years. South Korea has accused North Korea of ​​attacking a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors in 2010, but North Korea denies responsibility.
South Korean officials also said North Korea had not responded to South Korea’s calls to a number of cross-border inter-Korean hotlines for more than a week, and that communications on those channels were an accident on the Korean Peninsula. It is designed to prevent destructive collisions, thus raising concerns about the potential for dynamic provocation.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted their largest field exercises in years last month, conducting separate joint naval and air force exercises involving U.S. carrier strike groups and U.S. nuclear-capable bombers. North Korea has described the exercises as rehearsals for aggression and has repeatedly used them as an excuse to push forward with its own weapons programme.
Since early 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 of her missiles into the sea, including three types of ICBMs and various short-range missiles, to carry out nuclear strikes. We call these battlefield nukes. Both in the continental United States and South Korea. South Korea has patrolled the waters around the Northern Line for decades, since it was established by the United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War in 1950-53. North Korea does not recognize this demarcation line and insists on drawing it deep into the waters now controlled by the South.
