ID :
200564
Thu, 08/11/2011 - 06:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/200564
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea disregards N. Korea's denial of border shelling
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military on Thursday flatly dismissed North Korea's claim that the South mistook a blasting noise from construction work for artillery fire near their tense maritime border a day earlier.
The South's military returned warning shots on Wednesday after North Korean artillery shells landed in waters near the Yellow Sea border. Hours later in the day, the North fired two more artillery rounds into waters, prompting the South to fire back in retaliation.
The North's latest shelling, which South Korean military officials say appeared to stem from artillery drills on waters near the sea border, rattled nerves along the border because it came just nine months after Pyongyang attacked nearby Yeonpyeong Island with an artillery barrage, killing two civilians and two Marines.
However, North Korea denied shelling near the Yellow Sea border early Thursday, saying "normal blasting" from the "brisk construction of a gigantic object" in the North's area near the border caused the South's military to return fire.
"Frightened by this, the South Korea military warmongers spread misinformation that the army of the DPRK (North Korea) perpetrated a shelling 'provocation,'" the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
The North repeated the same claim in its telephone message sent to the South on Thursday morning.
An official at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) quickly dismissed the North's denial as "out of the question."
"We confirmed that three out of the five North Korean shells fell near the Northern Limit Line (NLL)" that serves as a de facto border in the area, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
"It's not worth commenting on North Korea's false, unilateral argument," the official said.
Tension remains high along the poorly defined border, the scene of a series of bloody naval clashes between the two Koreas. North Korea has never recognized the NLL, demanding that it be re-drawn further south.
South Korean military officials said the North Korean shots appeared to have come from Yongmae Island, about 11 kilometers north of the NLL and some 20km northeast of Yeonpyeong Island. The South's warnings shots were launched from Yeonpyeong.
The South's military returned warning shots on Wednesday after North Korean artillery shells landed in waters near the Yellow Sea border. Hours later in the day, the North fired two more artillery rounds into waters, prompting the South to fire back in retaliation.
The North's latest shelling, which South Korean military officials say appeared to stem from artillery drills on waters near the sea border, rattled nerves along the border because it came just nine months after Pyongyang attacked nearby Yeonpyeong Island with an artillery barrage, killing two civilians and two Marines.
However, North Korea denied shelling near the Yellow Sea border early Thursday, saying "normal blasting" from the "brisk construction of a gigantic object" in the North's area near the border caused the South's military to return fire.
"Frightened by this, the South Korea military warmongers spread misinformation that the army of the DPRK (North Korea) perpetrated a shelling 'provocation,'" the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
The North repeated the same claim in its telephone message sent to the South on Thursday morning.
An official at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) quickly dismissed the North's denial as "out of the question."
"We confirmed that three out of the five North Korean shells fell near the Northern Limit Line (NLL)" that serves as a de facto border in the area, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
"It's not worth commenting on North Korea's false, unilateral argument," the official said.
Tension remains high along the poorly defined border, the scene of a series of bloody naval clashes between the two Koreas. North Korea has never recognized the NLL, demanding that it be re-drawn further south.
South Korean military officials said the North Korean shots appeared to have come from Yongmae Island, about 11 kilometers north of the NLL and some 20km northeast of Yeonpyeong Island. The South's warnings shots were launched from Yeonpyeong.
