Navy patrol boats are ready for operations at a naval base in Incheon, after South and North Korea exchanged artillery fire along the West Sea border, Wednesday, a day after the North announced a “no-sail” zone near the Northern Limit Line (NLL). / Korea Times Photo by Kim Joo-sung |
 By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
North Korea vowed to continue artillery drills Wednesday along the West Sea border after firing dozens of shells on two separate occasions there, reiterating that the de-facto inter-Korean border should be redrawn.
After the first batch of about 30 artillery shells in the morning, South Korea responded by firing warning shots, but no casualties or damage occurred.
The North began firing again at 3:25 p.m., with a dozen more shells landing north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto western sea border. But the South did not respond.
This is the first time that the North has fired artillery into the NLL in the West Sea, though the navies from both Koreas have exchanged gunfire near the border before.
No casualties or injuries were reported as both sides fired in the air and no fishing boats were present, a spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
After the North's firing in the morning, the Ministry of National Defense issued a statement, urging Pyongyang to stop the provocation.
The general staff of the North's Korean People's Army confirmed its artillery exercise, saying it was part of an annual drill.
Earlier in the day, presidential chief of staff Chung Jung-gil convened an emergency security meeting on behalf of President Lee Myung-bak who is on an overseas trip.
Participants included Won Se-hoon, chief of the National Intelligence Service; Kim Tae-young, minister of national defense; and Hyun In-taek, minister of unification.
Despite the North Korean provocation, Unification Minister Hyun said inter-Korean talks to discuss the operation of a joint industrial complex in the North, slated for Monday, will go ahead as planned between the sides.
The government will also continue humanitarian aid to Pyongyang, he said at a forum in Seoul.
North Korea has refused to recognize the sea border drawn up by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Pyongyang announced Tuesday "no-sail" zones near the NLL, a move which in the past sometimes preceded the test-launch of missiles.
The zones overlap with the NLL - the communist state unilaterally demarcated a "peacetime firing zone" last month in an area just south of the NLL.
Analysts here say the latest provocative move by North Korea indicates its attempt to increase its leverage as it prepares to return to the denuclearization talks with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.
According to the JCS spokesman, the North fired about 30 artillery shells toward the South from 9:05 a.m. through 10:16 a.m. But the shells landed about 2.25 kilometers north of the NLL.
South Korean Marines on Baegnyeong Island near the border returned fire from its coastal batteries.
They fired about 100 Vulcan cannon rounds with a range of 3-4 kilometers, only as "warning shots," the spokesman said.
Maj. Gen. Ryu Jae-seung, representative of South Korea's military delegation for inter-Korean military talks, said the North's designation of a shipping exclusion zone near the NLL and a shooting zone violates the Inter-Korean Non-aggression Treaty and the Armistice Agreement.
"Our military will deal with any provocation by the North, and we warn that North Korea will be responsible for any situation that occurs from now on," he said in a message sent to North Korea via a communication line.
Earlier this week, the North criticized the South for remarks made by Defense Minister Kim, who said the military would launch a preemptive strike if it had clear signs that Pyongyang was preparing a nuclear attack.
The two Koreas were engaged in a brief firefight on Nov. 13 after a North Korean ship violated the sea border. The naval clash, which was the first in more than seven years, ended with the North Korean ship limping back to port in flames after being hit by the South Korean Navy.
About a month before this, North Korea fired short-range missiles off its east coast, the latest in a series of weapons tests that included the May detonation of a second nuclear device.
Pyongyang pulled out of the six-party denuclearization talks in April after the United Nations imposed sanctions for earlier missile tests.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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