On Monday, amid increased military tension, North and South Korea fired warning rounds off their respective coasts, accusing one another of violating their maritime borders.
The Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border, was crossed by a North Korean merchant ship at roughly 3:40 AM (2:40 AM Singapore time), according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the South. The South claimed to have broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to see off the vessel.
There were no reports of combat, but the sea border off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula has long been a source of hostility. United Nations, which is headed by Americans at the conclusion of the 1950-1953 Korean War, although North Korea insists on a line that extends far into the South's territorial waters.
Two tragic incidents that took place in the region in 2010 involved the North's purported torpedoing of a South Korean naval ship and its shelling of a South Korean island. In the two attacks, 50 South Koreans died.
It would be "unimaginable" for a North Korean merchant ship to cross the border that early in the day without permission from the North's military, according to analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, who claimed that North Korea had likely planned its ship incursion on purpose.
According to state media, the North's military claimed it launched 10 rocket artillery rounds after a South Korean navy ship broke the NLL and fired warning shots "on the pretext of tracking down an unidentified ship."
"We ordered initial countermeasures to strongly expel the enemy warship," a spokesperson for the General Staff of the North Korean People's Army said.
The JCS claimed that it had carried out a "normal operation" about the border intrusion and criticized the North for breaking a 2018 bilateral military agreement that forbade "hostile acts" in border regions.
"We once again urge North Korea to immediately cease consistent provocations and accusations which harm the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula as well as the international community," the JCS said.
The most recent exchange of fire took place amid simmering tensions, as the North has conducted an unprecedented number of weapons tests this year. In recent weeks, North Korea repeatedly shot hundreds of artillery rounds and short-range ballistic missiles off its east and west coasts to express its displeasure with the South's military exercises.
The annual Hoguk defense exercises, which will go through October 28 and improve South Korea's military's ability to resist the North's nuclear and missile threats, got underway last week.
