N. Korean vessel neared East Sea border with S. Korea: spokesman

(ATTN: RECASTS lead, headline; UPDATES with details of incident)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean patrol boat approached the boundary
between the two Koreas in the East Sea earlier this week but retreated after
receiving a warning message, a South Korean defense spokesman said Thursday.

But Won Tae-jae at the Ministry of National Defense denied a local media report
that the boat on Tuesday crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto
maritime border on both sides of the Koreas.
"The boat was about one nautical mile (1.8 km) away from the border" when the
South Korean Navy radioed a warning, Won said.
South Korean naval forces made "counter-moves" south of the NLL, he said.
The North Korean boat returned after staying in the area for "not too long," he
said.
The mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported earlier that a North Korean naval
vessel crossed 1.8 km into South Korean waters off the east coast on Tuesday
afternoon.
North Korea has breached the NLL in the Yellow Sea three times this year amid
boiling tension between the two countries, which remain technically at war after
the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
North Korea has repeatedly warned of an armed conflict near the NLL in the west
where clashes turned deadly in 1999 and 2002. The North says the boundary should
be drawn farther south.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)