North Korea, warning shots with South along maritime border

South and North Korea fired warning shots this morning along the disputed maritime border off the west coast of the Korean peninsula. The Joint Chiefs of Staff of Seoul said they had fired warning shots at a North Korean merchant ship that violated the waters of the so-called Northern Limit Line at around 3.45 am (local time). The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, adding that North Korea returned fire with artillery shells in the buffer zone in the Yellow Sea. For its part, Pyongyang said that “a South Korean navy ship invaded the military demarcation line under North Korean control at 3.50, opening fire with the excuse of controlling an unidentified ship”.