Two Koreas exchange warning shots near sea border amid tensions

SEOUL, Oct 24 (Reuters) – North and South Korea exchanged warning pictures off the west coast on Monday, accusing one another of breaching their maritime borders amid heightened army rigidity.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Workers (JCS) mentioned it broadcast warnings and fired warning pictures to see off a North Korean service provider vessel that crossed the Northern Restrict Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary, at round 3:40 a.m. (1840 GMT Sunday).

The North’s army mentioned it fired 10 rocket artillery rounds after a South Korean navy ship violated the NLL and fired warning pictures “on the pretext of monitoring down an unidentified ship,” in accordance with state media.

“We ordered preliminary countermeasures to strongly expel the enemy warship,” a spokesperson for the Basic Workers of the North’s Korean Folks’s Military mentioned, in accordance with the official KCNA information company.

The JCS mentioned it had carried out a “regular operation” over the border intrusion, and known as the North’s transfer a violation of a 2018 bilateral army pact banning “hostile acts” within the border areas.

“We as soon as once more urge North Korea to right away stop constant provocations and accusations which hurt the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula in addition to the worldwide group,” the JCS mentioned in an announcement.

The newest trade of fireside got here amid simmering tensions, with the North finishing up weapons checks at an unprecedented tempo this 12 months.

In latest weeks, North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles and a whole bunch of artillery rounds off its east and west coasts on a number of events in protest over the South’s army actions.

South Korea’s troops kicked off their annual Hoguk defence drills final week, designed to run till Oct. 28 and increase their very own and mixed capability with the USA to counter the North’s nuclear and missile threats.

As a part of the programme, South Korean naval forces mentioned on Monday that they might stage four-day workouts off the west coast, bringing collectively about 20 warships, together with their Aegis-equipped destroyer and U.S. belongings akin to Apache assault helicopters and A-10 strike plane.

Pyongyang has angrily reacted to the drills, calling them provocations and threatening countermeasures. Seoul and Washington say their workouts are defensive and geared toward deterring the North.

Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Hyonhee Shin; enhancing by Diane Craft, Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle

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