South Korea fires warning shots after North Korean boat crosses maritime border

South Korea has fired warning shots after a North Korean vessel crossed the maritime border between the two countries early on Monday, South Korea’s military said.

North Korea fired 10 artillery shells, the North’s official KCNA said, in response to the South’s warning shots.

The North Korean rocket launchers were fired at around 5.15am on Monday local time after the South Korean military fired warning shots at around 3.50am, a spokesman for the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army said.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it sent back a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary between the two Koreas.

“The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army ... ordered to fire 10 shots from multiple rocket launchers to sternly send back the enemy’s vessel,” the North Korean spokesman said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

In recent weeks, North Korea has carried out a string of weapons tests in response to what it calls provocative military drills between South Korea and the United States.

Since 25 September, North Korea has fired 15 missiles and hundreds of artillery shells toward the sea.

Seoul and Washington routinely conduct military drills to maintain their readiness against potential North Korean aggressions.

The allies say their drills are defensive in nature, but North Korea views them as an invasion rehearsal.

South Korean military is under annual field exercises set to end this Friday. This year’s drills involve an unspecified number of US troops.

Additional reporting by agencies