Seoul: A North Korean merchant vessel briefly crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, the de facto maritime border between the Koreas, and retreated after South Korea's military fired warning shots, officials said.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the 140-meter-long North Korean vessel crossed the NLL near the South Korean border island of Baengnyeong at 5:06 a.m. and remained on the southern side for an hour, as reported by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The vessel, which departed from a North Korean port, reportedly advanced up to 5 kilometers south of the NLL.
The South Korean military, monitoring the ship's advance, issued warning broadcasts, but the vessel crossed the line, prompting a South Korean Navy vessel to fire approximately 60 warning shots and shells. The North Korean ship then veered westward and retreated from the South's maritime control area around 6 a.m., JCS officials stated.
The 2,800-ton ROKS Cheonan frigate was operating in the area during the NLL breach. A JCS official noted the presence of a dozen Chinese ships near the NLL at the time, suggesting the possibility that the North Korean vessel crossed the maritime border to avoid the nearby Chinese ships.
The North Korean ship, named the Toksong, reportedly altered its automatic identification system to display Chinese nationality after crossing the NLL, possibly to conceal its identity, the official added. The ship also bore a Chinese flag, according to the official.
No unusual movement involving the North Korean military was detected in connection with the incident as of Friday morning, a JCS official confirmed. "We will firmly maintain our readiness posture and respond resolutely to any situation to safeguard the NLL," it stated.
This incident marked the first NLL intrusion by a North Korean vessel in three years. In October 2022, a similar border crossing occurred when a North Korean merchant vessel violated the NLL in the Yellow Sea before retreating northward following warning shots from a South Korean warship. At that time, the vessel advanced up to 3.3 km south of the NLL and remained on the South Korean side for 40 minutes.
North Korea does not recognize the NLL as the inter-Korean maritime border, asserting that it should be drawn farther south. Following the 2022 border crossing, the North Korean military accused the South Korean Navy of violating what it claimed was a maritime border.