South Korea fires warning shots following transit of North Korean vessel in maritime border

South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean vessel that crossed the de facto maritime border. The incident comes amidst tensions with North Korea over its continued missile tests.

On Sunday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said it fired warning shots and broadcast warnings to drive away a North Korean patrol boat that reached the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, on Saturday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also said that a South Korean patrol boat also came into contact with a Chinese fishing boat due to bad visibility. While there were no safety issues, the South Korean crew suffered slight injuries.

“Our military maintains decisive battle posture while monitoring the enemy’s movements in preparation for potential provocations regarding NLL violations by North Korean patrol boats,” said the JCS in a statement.

The incursion of the North Korean boat follows Friday’s test of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile by Pyongyang. This also follows a previous incident in October, when both Koreas opened fire at each other in the western waters, accusing each other of breaching the NLL where confrontations have been known to take place.

North Korea has long protested South Korea’s joint military drills with the United States, accusing the two countries of rehearsing for war. Seoul and Washington have maintained that their joint drills are defensive and only aim to deter North Korea. The South Korean Air Force also said on Sunday that it would stage combined drills with the US Air Force and Marines starting on Monday until April 28.

South Korea, the US, and Japan have jointly condemned Friday’s missile launch by Pyongyang. The three allies have since agreed to enhance their security cooperation in response to North Korea during a meeting between their defense officials in Washington. During the meeting, the officials discussed the regularization of missile defense exercises and anti-submarine exercises as well as a response to North Korea’s “nuclear and missile threats.” The officials also discussed ways to resume trilateral drills.

The three officials also reiterated the call for North Korea to return to denuclearization talks, which have been stalled since 2019.