SEOUL — A South Korean patrol boat fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat in the Yellow Sea last week, military officials here revealed Sunday, in the latest sign of growing tensions on the divided peninsula.
While there were no casualties, parties on both sides of the heavily armed border have engaged in high-profile military activities in recent weeks and North Korea is ignoring the South’s calls on a cross-border military hotline.
The regime of Kim Jong-un also claimed in recent days to have successfully tested its first solid-fuel ballistic missile, a development that could greatly complicate the ability of the U.S. and its allies to preempt a possible future missile strike by Pyongyang.
The patrol boat incident, disclosed by Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and reported by Yonhap News on Sunday, took place off the peninsula’s west coast. For approximately 10 minutes a North Korean patrol boat intruded more than a mile over the disputed maritime border in the area, known as the Northern Limit Line, before being intercepted by a South Korean patrol vessel.
After broadcasting warnings, the Southern vessel fired 10 warning shots with its automatic cannon, compelling its Northern counterpart to withdraw. The latter was apparently chasing a Chinese vessel from the rich fish and crab grounds that lie just off the peninsula, a source told Yonhap.
While fishing disputes with Chinese trawlers are common in the area, the western sea border is also a naval flash point between the two Koreas.
Deadly patrol boat clashes took place in 1999 and 2002. In 2010, a South Korean corvette was sunk by what an international investigation found was a North Korean submarine — a charge Pyongyang denies — killing 46 people. Also in 2010, North Korean artillery shelled an offshore island occupied by the South, killing four people.
Thursday’s test-firing of a ballistic missile by Pyongyang set off alarms in Japan. Last Friday, North Korea announced that the test was of a solid-fuel projectile which — if confirmed — would mark a significant upgrade to Pyongyang’s capabilities.
A solid-fuel missile does not need to undergo a lengthy fueling process in the open before being fired, during which it is vulnerable to a preemptive strike. American, Japanese and South Korean missile defense doctrines rely heavily on early detection, relying on superior reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities to target the missile immediately after launch.
North Korea’s Mr. Kim, who monitored the missile test with his family in tow, told the country’s state-controlled media that military developments would “constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror into its enemies.”
More jitters likely lie ahead. North Korea is routinely infuriated by the spring drills conducted by South Korea and the U.S., and responds with provocations of its own. The next exercises in this year’s series are 12 days of aerial combat drills, set to commence on Monday.
Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations, meeting this weekend in Japan, are expected to focus at least some of their talks on the rising number of North Korean missile tests in recent months and the dangers they pose to the region.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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