JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

N.Korea threatens to strike S.Korea warships near sea border

N.Korea threatens to strike S.Korea warships near sea border

Wednesday, May 21, 2014, 22:15 GMT+7

North Korea threatened Wednesday to launch an attack on South Korean warships without warning if there was even a "trifling" provocation near their disputed Yellow Sea border.

A South Korean naval ship fired warning shots Tuesday after three North Korean patrol boats crossed the sea boundary.

On Wednesday the North's military accused South Korea of "an intentional grave provocation" at a time when North Korean vessels had been chasing Chinese boats fishing illegally in the area.

In future South Korean naval vessels near the border would be the target of "precision" strikes without warning if they were involved in "any trifling provocations", it said in a statement on the official KCNA news agency.

"We are willing to go for a showdown right now if the puppet rogue is desperate to stand face-to-face with us," it said.

It is not uncommon for North Korean patrol boats and fishing boats to cross the sea border into the South.

Two North Korean patrol boats violated the sea border last month, just before US President Barack Obama arrived in Seoul for a two-day visit.

The North does not recognise the Yellow Sea border, the scene of brief but bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

In March the North fired hundreds of shells in a live exercise near the sea boundary. About 100 shells dropped into South Korean territorial waters, and the South responded with volleys of shells into North Korean waters.

AFP

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news