By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
Two North Korean patrol boats separately crossed into South Korean waters Saturday, the first of incursion since the March 26 naval incident, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a press release Sunday.
The boats were immediately repelled following radio communication and the firing of warning shots, the JCS said.
A boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea at 10:13 p.m. and moved 2.6 nautical miles into the South, it said in a news release. It retreated 30 minutes later after receiving a warning radio signal from the South Korean Navy.
But another North Korean patrol vessel violated the sea border at 11:30 p.m. sailing about 2.4 nautical miles into South Korean waters. The boat returned to the North nine minutes later after South Korean warships fired several warning shots, according to the release.
The NLL serves as the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, but the North has never accepted this, calling for it to be redrawn. The line was drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Since the sinking of the frigate Cheonan, the military has vowed to take stern measures against any North Korean incursion into South Korean waters near the sea border.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense is considering issuing a statement against North Korea should the cause of the naval disaster be determined to be related to it.
A multinational team looking into the ship sinking is scheduled to announce the result of its investigation by Thursday. Sources said the team has almost concluded that the ship was split in two after being hit by a torpedo.