DPRK warns S. Korea of serious consequences for battleships' intrusion

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) condemned on January 24 the South Korean battleships' intrusion into its territorial waters, warning that it posed a threat to relevant agreements reached by the two sides.

"Battleships of the south Korean forces have intruded into the waters south of Kuwol Hill of the north side one after another since Jan. 21, increasing the military tension there," said the Navy Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in a report.

Last Friday, a spokesman of the Navy Command of the DPRK's KPA said the South Korean battleships had infiltrated into the waters of the north side in the Yellow Sea for 28 cases this month.

"The Navy Command of the KPA regards this provocation of the south Korean military as an irresponsible act intended to scrap the points agreed upon at the inter-Korean general-level military talks which call for easing the military tension on the Korean Peninsula and preventing a military clash in the West Sea and brings this situation to the military's attention," the report warned.

The so-called "northern limit line" was unilaterally drawn by the United States and South Korea in the Yellow Sea after the Korean War, but the DPRK refused to accept that line and drew another one.

As a result, battleships and boats of the two sides have had frequent skirmishes in this disputed waters.

The two sides came to an agreement last June on preventing such incidents, but the issue of the "northern limit line" remains unsettled.

Source: Xinhua