SEOUL: South Korea said its navy patrol boats fired warning shots yesterday at six North Korean fishing boats that crossed their disputed Yellow Sea border in the latest of a series of incursions.
None of the North Korean vessels were hit and they swiftly returned to their side of the western sea boundary after the incident, a Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP.
“Dozens of Vulcan machine gun rounds were fired into waters near North Korean fishing boats which violated the sea border,” the spokesman said.
There was no immediate comment from the North Korean side.
The incident, which occurred close to Yeonpyeong island on the South side of the border, followed a series of recent border violations by North Korean fishing vessels.
It was the first time for two years that the South has resorted to firing warning shots to push the fishing boats back.
Earlier yesterday, Yonhap had quoted an unidentified senior military official as saying the navy would take action if the incursions continued.
“If North Korean boats repeatedly cross (the border) for fishing, the military will promptly and sternly respond, without hesitation,” the official said. The de-facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas — the Northern Limit Line — is not recognized by Pyongyang, which argues it was unilaterally drawn by the US-led United Nations forces after the 1950-53 Korean War.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the Korean conflict was concluded with a truce rather than a peace treaty, and small border incidents in the past have been known to escalate swiftly.
In 1999 a major battle erupted after North Korean naval ships and 20 crab-catching fishing boats crossed the line.
The South Korean navy mobilized 10 ships, some of which rammed the North Korean vessels, prompting exchanges of machine gun and artillery fire.
South Korea estimated that some 20 North Korean sailors were killed and 30 injured, while two South Korean ships were damaged and seven sailors injured.
In 2002, patrol boats from both sides exchanged fire and one South Korean vessel was sunk and six sailors killed.
Another naval clash in 2009 ended with patrol boats damaged on both sides, but only minor casualties.
The recent spate of fishing boat incursions “clearly seems to have a reason”, said another military official cited by Yonhap yesterday.
The North “may try to disturb South Korea by creating military tension ahead of (December’s) presidential election,” the official said.
Cross-border tensions have been especially high since the South accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010.
The North angrily denied involvement but went on to shell Yeonpyeong island in November of the same year. The attack killed four South Koreans and briefly sparked fears of a full-scale conflict.
The South subsequently strengthened manpower and weaponry on its frontline islands to forestall any fresh assault.
South Korea fires warning shots at North fishing boats
South Korea fires warning shots at North fishing boats
Cooper says Ethiopia visit to focus on migration
- Successive British governments have sought to address illegal immigration, an issue that has helped propel the populist campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party into a commanding lead in opinion polls
LONDON: Britain’s foreign secretary said she would use a visit to Ethiopia to focus on measures to stem the rising number of migrants from the Horn of Africa seeking to reach the UK.
Yvette Cooper said job creation partnerships would dissuade people from leaving Ethiopia, while stronger law enforcement cooperation was essential to counter smuggler gangs and speed up returns of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.
“We are working together to tackle the economic drivers of illegal migration and the criminal gangs who operate globally, profiting from trading in people,” Cooper said in a statement.
“That includes new partnerships to improve trade and create thousands of good jobs in Ethiopia so people can find a better life back home instead of making perilous journeys.”
Successive British governments have sought to address illegal immigration, an issue that has helped propel the populist campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party into a commanding lead in opinion polls.
Approximately 30 percent of people crossing the English Channel in small boats over the past two years were nationals from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan, the British Foreign Ministry said.
To boost job creation in Ethiopia, Cooper is set to sign an agreement with the country to advance two energy transmission projects led by Gridworks, a UK investment organization.
She planned to announce £17 million worth of funding for tackling violence against women and girls, assistance for 68,000 children suffering malnutrition, and for projects working with displaced people.
Meanwhile, Tigrayans in northern Ethiopia fear a return to all-out war amid reports that clashes were continuing between local and federal forces on Monday, barely three years after the last devastating conflict in the region.
The civil war of 2020-2022 between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces killed more than 600,000 people and a peace deal known as the Pretoria Agreement has never fully resolved the tensions.
Fighting broke out again last week in a disputed area of western Tigray called Tselemt and the Afar region to the east of Tigray.
