The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday accused the South Korean military of grave provocation in the Yellow Sea on Monday.

At around 10:55 am (0155 GMT) on Monday, South Korean combat warships fired several shells at a patrol boat of the DPRK navy asthe latter was "on a routine guard duty in the waters of the northside," said a statement of the Navy Command of the DPRK military.

Describing the firing as a "crime," the statement said it was an unpardonable provocation and a blatant challenge to the north in the light of the present inter-Korean relations.

The statement also warned that the DPRK "will closely follow the future movement of the south Korean armed forces."

In Seoul earlier on Monday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said three DPRK navy boats shortly crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) for entering the south side and returned to the north side after the south side fired warning shots,

Pyongyang has refused to accept the NLL which was fixed unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command after the KoreanWar, but Seoul held the NLL as the de-facto western inter-Korean sea border.

The two sides had two bloody naval skirmishes in the controversial waters in 1999 and 2002.

Source: Xinhua