DPRK announces disputed West Sea area artillery exercise zone.

21/12 Tass 62

PYONGYANG, December 21 (Itar-Tass) - The Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (DPRK) has announced the West Sea (Yellow Sea) disputed zone near
the inter-Korean border an area of coastal artillery exercises.

The Navy
Command of the Korean People's Army said in a statement circulated by
North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday that
Pyongyang has taken these measures in response to "military provocations"
of South Korea that have become more frequent of late.
According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, North Korea said Monday
that it was setting a "peacetime firing zone" along the inter-Korean
border in the Yellow Sea, raising tension in the volatile region where a
blaze of gunfire was recently exchanged. Last week, North Korea accused
the South Korean Navy of conducting underwater explosions close to its
waters, calling it "provocation." South Koreas Joint Chief of Staffs
dismissed the claim, saying the explosions were part of a routine drill
conducted in South Korean waters.
"In order to counter the reckless military provocations of the
warmongers of the South Korean military," a spokesman for the Navy Command
of the North Korean People's Army said, "our navy declares the waters on
the extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea under the
control of our army as a peacetime naval firing zone of coastal and island
artillery units of the KPA (Korean People's Army)."
South Korea expressed regret over the North Korean warning, pledging a
"stern response" should the communist state provoke on the maritime
border, according to Yonhap. "We express grave concern as the North's
threat raises unnecessary tension between the Koreas," the South Korean
Navy said in a statement, calling the North Korean argument "irrational."
The Military Demarcation Line refers to the line North Korea
unilaterally drew just south of Northern Limit Line (NLL) in 1999 as the
maritime inter-Korean border, declaring the NLL that has existed for
decades unfair and void. The NLL, part of which was drawn close to the
North Korean coastline, was set by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at
the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Koreas exchanged brief gunfire in an area just south of the NLL in
November, and naval skirmishes that erupted nearby in 1999 and 2002 led to
casualties. The latest warning raised military tension in the region that
overlaps between the NLL and the line that North Korea claims should be
the border. Yonhap reported.
"The frequent intrusions of the warmongers of the South Korean
military into the territorial waters of the north side in the West Sea of
Korea have recently developed into adventurous bombardments," the
unidentified naval command spokesman said. All fishing boats and warships
should take security measures to protect themselves in the "peacetime
naval firing zone," he said.
Also Monday, South Korea said it planned to resume cash support to
enhance the health of North Korean infants and children, which it halted
after the North's nuclear test earlier this year, Yonhap reported. Seoul's
Unification Ministry said it will provide millions of dollars to UN
agencies that operate health care programmes for those who are
nutritionally at risk in North Korea. Last week, Seoul provided US$15
million in medication to the North to help prevent an epidemic of the H1N1
flu virus there.
-0-ezh/gor