N Korea blames South for naval skirmish
AP, Seoul
North Korea on Tuesday accused South Korean navy ships of violating their disputed western sea border repeatedly in recent days, and hours later a South Korean navy speedboat fired warning shots at a Northern fishing boat.South Korea said the fishing boat sailed about 200 yards into its waters and the South's navy fired eight machine-gun rounds. There were no reports of injuries. The Southern navy boat was about 300 yards from the fishing boat and no hostile actions were taken by North Korean navy ships in the area, said Kim Sung-ok, a spokesman at the South Korean military's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff. The North Korean fishing boat turned back in five minutes, Kim said. South Korea's navy ships had also fired warning shots Sunday when eight North Korean fishing boats allegedly entered the South's territorial waters. Tension along the maritime border comes as the United States is mustering international pressure on the North to abandon its suspected development of nuclear weapons. "Now that there is an increasing danger of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, any military clash between the North and the South may lead to a war," a spokesman for the North Korean Navy Command told Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA.
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