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North Korea has announced a two-month ban on shipping near its disputed sea border with South Korea, Seoul's defence ministry said on Tuesday, in a move set to heighten tensions after a naval clash in November.
Yonhap news agency said South Korea's military was checking whether the announcement was part of preparations for more short-range missile launches.
A defence ministry spokeswoman said the no-sail zone had been imposed in waters near South Korea's Baengnyeong Island off the west coast from January 25 to March 29. She said the exact location would be announced on Wednesday.
Yonhap said the zone extended north of the island and along the disputed border, and also stretched east of the island where November's firefight erupted.
The border known as the Northern Limit Line, which the North refuses to recognise, has been a persistent flashpoint. There were deadly naval clashes in the area in 1999 and 2002.
Seoul said November's clash broke out when a North Korean patrol boat crossed the line and refused to turn back despite warnings.
The brief but intense battle left the North's boat retreating in flames and one South Korean craft with bullet holes in its hull. There was no information on any North Korean casualties, while the South's crewmen were unhurt.
Last month the North warned South Korean ships to avoid the border area, saying its coastal artillery would target it in firing exercises.
Its naval command said at the time the move came in response to "reckless military provocations" from the South.
Naval tensions have remained despite recent efforts by the sanctions-hit North to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South.
In addition to its ballistic missile launches, Pyongyang has many times in recent years test-fired short-range missiles at sea.
Efforts to restart six-nation nuclear negotiations are currently stalled over the North's demand for early talks with the United States on a pact to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Analysts have said the communist state could try to fuel tensions to strengthen its case that a peace deal is urgently needed. The United States and South Korea say the North must return to nuclear talks before any discussions on a peace pact.
On Sunday the North's military lashed out at South Korea's vow to launch a pre-emptive strike to thwart any nuclear attack, calling it "an open declaration of war."
The threat was sparked by comments last week from the South's defence minister, who said Seoul would have to launch such a strike if an atomic attack from its neighbour was imminent.
A North Korean embassy official in Ethiopia has defected to South Korea through Seoul's diplomatic mission in the African country, two news reports said Tuesday.
Yonhap news agency and YTN cable news network said the 40-year-old medic, identified only as Kim, fled to the South Korean embassy in Addis Ababa and asked for political asylum in October.
Yonhap said the communist state's embassy protested strongly, making a threatening call to the South Korean mission.
North Korean officials used cars to stage protests outside the building where Kim stayed for up to three weeks, YTN said.
South Korean foreign ministry officials escorted him to Seoul in early November, it said.
N.Korea embassy official defected to S.Korea
A senior official at Seoul's embassy in Addis Ababa said he had no information on the matter. The South's foreign ministry also declined to comment.
"We do not confirm or deny any reports of that kind," a spokesman told AFP.
Almost 17,000 North Koreans have arrived in the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953, with virtually all fleeing via China. North Korean officials and diplomats defect relatively seldom.
North Korea fired artillery off its west coast near the disputed maritime border with South Korea, prompting warning shots from the South. There were no casualties.
North Korea fired about 30 shells this morning into waters north of the border, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said in Seoul today. The South responded with several rounds that weren’t aimed at any target, said the official, who declined to be named, citing ministry policy. North Korea fired more shells around 3 p.m., Yonhap News agency reported, a couple of hours after the totalitarian country’s military described the firing as an annual exercise.
Beijing North Korea earlier banned ships from its west coast, indicating it may be planning military exercises. The regime of Kim Jong Il fired missiles in October, the latest in a series of tests that included the May detonation of a second nuclear device. The North quit six-nation talks on its atomic program in April and has said it won’t return until United Nations sanctions imposed for its nuclear tests are lifted.
“North Korea is raising tension as a way of reminding others that there is always a possibility of war on the peninsula,” said Baek Seung Joo, an analyst at the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses. “The provocation is a message to dialogue partners, urging them to come up with concessions needed to bring it to the table.”
‘Firing Zone’
The benchmark Kospi index was 0.7 percent lower at 1,625.48 at the 3 p.m. market close in Seoul, having earlier dropped as much as 1 percent.
South Korea sent a letter to North Korea, urging the government to stop provocative acts and lift the no-sail restriction, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea’s navy command on Dec. 21 declared a “firing zone” in the western waters.
YTN Television yesterday cited an unidentified military source as saying that the no-navigation zone covers an area 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) south of the Northern Limit Line, a border demarcated by the UN after the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea doesn’t recognize the border, at the center of a dispute that caused bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
The two countries exchanged fire in November after a North Korean vessel ventured into waters claimed by South Korea.
South and North Korea remain divided by an armed border after their conflict ended in a cease-fire, which was never replaced by a peace treaty. North Korea said on Jan. 11 that talks on a peace treaty should begin this year.
South Korea this week proposed talks with North Korea on Feb. 8 about resuming tourist visits to the communist nation, a government spokesman said. The South also plans to send 10,000 tons of corn in food aid to the North.
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