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| South Korean marines conduct a crackdown against China's illegal fishing in neutral waters around Ganghwa island, South Korea in June. Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and US ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. File photo: AP |
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's armed forces on Wednesday returned a North Korean boat and also its 7 staff members across the countries' questioned western sea border a day after they wandered right into waters near a South Oriental boundary island.
South Korea's navy discharged alerting shots on Tuesday to repel a North Oriental patrol vessel that briefly went across the supposed Northern Limit Line while going after the boat near Baekryeong island.
The seven team participants informed South Korean military authorities they drifted south of the border because of navigating mistakes and mechanical issues and also expressed a need to go back to North Korea, South Korea's Defense Ministry claimed.
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South Korea's navy has actually usually fired alerting shots to drive away North Oriental vessels crossing the countries' inadequately marked sea boundary, however there likewise have actually been some dangerous clashes throughout the years. South Korea criticized North Korea for an assault on a South Oriental battleship that eliminated 46 seafarers in 2010, but the North has refuted responsibility.
South Korea has actually patrolled waters around the Northern Restriction Line for years after it was formulated by the U.N. command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea does not identify the line and also stipulates a limit that intrudes deeply right into waters currently managed by the South.