Warning shots lift Korean tension

SEOUL - South Korea's Navy fired warning shots yesterday after North Korean fishing boats crossed the disputed maritime border between the rival Korean states.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman would not provide details, but confirmed a local television report that three North Korean boats retreated after the shots.

The incident near the site of deadly naval gun battles last June and in 1999 was the latest of a series of incursions during the week in rich crab fishing grounds west of the divided peninsula on the Yellow Sea.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for more than seven months, since the United States said the communist North had revealed it was pursuing a secret nuclear arms programme.

On Thursday, the only day last week in which the South reported no incursions, North Korea accused South Korea of sending warships across the sea boundary and warned Seoul that further moves could lead to "irrevocable serious consequences".

South Korea denied its naval ships had crossed into northern waters.

- REUTERS