NK fishing boat violates sea border for 6th time this month

A North Korean fishing boat on Saturday morning retreated after crossing the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean border, after getting a warning message from the South Korean Navy.

The border incursion was the sixth by a North Korean fishing boat this month.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, the fishing boat crossed the border by some 400 meters in the Yellow Sea at around 8 a.m. Saturday, after which two South Korean naval speedboats rushed to the scene and issued a warning message.

A South Korean military source said, “After the warning message was aired, the fishing boat retreated to north of the Northern Limit Line, conducted fishing in waters near the line, and violated the line again into the South before retreating.”

More than 100 North Korean fishing boats and hundreds of Chinese vessels are seeking crabs in waters north of the border.

Since Sept. 12, North Korean fishing boats have recently crossed the line individually or as a group of up to six to seven vessels on a series of occasions, and retreated in the face of warnings issued by South Korean maritime police.

When six fishing boats that crossed the line Friday ignored warnings, the South Korean Navy fired warning shots and forced them back to the North. Judging that the violations could be part of the North’s strategy of aggression meant to exploit the December presidential election in the South, the South Korean military has beefed up surveillance of movement in the North and increased preparedness.

When South Korea fired warning shots against North Korean fishing boats that violated the border Friday, the military reportedly sent F-15K fighter jets armed with weapons to counter any unexpected situation in skies over the area.

A South Korean military source said, “The measure was taken to guard against a potential North Korean attack on South Korean speedboats with coastal artillery guns under the pretext of a South Korean crackdown on North Korean fishing boats.”

The Joint Direct Attack Munition installed in an F-15K can strike North Korea’s coastal artillery bases with an error margin in a radius of several meters.

The North has stepped up its threats against the South, repeating its demand to nullify the sea border. In a "report" issued in response to the warning shots, the North Korean military’s southwest frontier command said, “The puppet (South Korean) navy’s speedboats entered deep into our waters above the maritime border southwest of Yeonpyeong Island, and fired a number of shots,” adding, “What`s left to do is the action of powerful strikes by our military units, which have limitless power. The problem is that (the South’s) military aggressions are being committed under the pretext of illegal operations by fishing boats from another country (China) rather than our fishing boats.”

A source at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “North Korean and Chinese fishing boats look completely different even with the naked eye. The fishing boats that crossed the Northern Limit Line are North Korean fishing boats without a doubt.”

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