By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea’s navy fired warning shots after a North Korean patrol vessel crossed their de facto maritime border Tuesday morning -- prompting the ship to retreat, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Similar circumstances triggered a sea battle between the Koreas 13 years ago this week -- on that occasion, six South Korean officers and 13 North Koreans were left dead.
Having commemorated the memory of the fallen a day earlier, Seoul’s Defense Minister Han Min-koo also addressed more than 150 senior military commanders at a local conference Tuesday.
While suggesting that the North is increasingly likely to carry out a provocation, Han warned the authoritarian state that such a move would be met with a “resolute retaliation.”
North Korea has bristled in recent weeks over the opening of a new United Nations human rights office in Seoul -- Pyongyang has long been unhappy about being accused of widespread torture and abuse.
On Monday’s anniversary of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, the South’s defense chief warned North Korea that it would “bitterly feel the cost” if it were to launch any provocations.
Recent actions by the North that might be considered provocative include nuclear tests, rocket launches and the deadly shelling of the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong in 2010.
Tensions remain heightened off the west coast of the peninsula as Pyongyang disputes the position of the so-called Northern Limit Line, a maritime demarcation line.
The two sides never signed a peace treaty after the 1950-53 Korean War.
