North and South Korea exchange warning fire at maritime border amid tensions

The conflict between North Korea and South Korea continues as both countries exchanged warning shots at the disputed maritime border on Monday. The South Korean military fired at a North Korean ship for “crossing the border” prompting a similar response from Korean People’s Army.

According to reports on the local media, a merchant vessel entered South Korean waters after crossing the controversial border known as Northern Limit Line. However, the vessel immediately retreated after warning shots were fired, according to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff.

Yonhap news agency further reported that North Korea responded to the incident by firing multiple shells at Southern Korean vessels which they claimed had “invaded” the region.

“Coastal defence units on the western front … took an initial countermeasure to powerfully expel the enemy warship by firing 10 shells of multiple rocket launchers toward the territorial waters, where naval enemy movement was detected, at 5:15,” Korean People’s Army said in a statement.

“KPA general staff once again sends a grave warning to the enemies who made [a] naval intrusion in the wake of such provocations as the recent artillery firing and loudspeaker broadcasting.”

The incident was one in a long line of conflicts which has taken place in the past few months. Since the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Seoul, tensions have flared between the two nations and North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons quite close to the common contested zone.

This incident also took place on the same day that US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman was supposed to meet counterparts from Japan and South Korea for a diplomatic meeting.