(Adnkronos) – Tension remains high between South Korea and North Korea. The South Korean military fired warning shots after a North Korean merchant ship briefly crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, a de facto maritime border that Pyongyang does not recognize. This was reported by the South Korean agency Yonhap, specifying that it is the first such episode in three years.
Everything happened around 5 a.m. local time near the South Korean island of Baengnyeong, according to what was announced by the South Korean military. The merchant ship, which had departed from a North Korean port, reportedly pushed up to five kilometers south of the NLL.
The South Korean military specified that they issued radio warnings as the merchant ship approached the NLL and that a South Korean Navy unit fired about 60 warning shots when the North Korean vessel crossed the de facto border. After about an hour, the situation reportedly returned to normal.
