The Navy Command of North Korea on Sunday accused South Korea of intruding into its sea border in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) and urged Seoul to stop such actions immediately.

 

"They (South Korea) keep perpetrating such very dangerous and grave military provocations as infiltrating warships into the territorial waters of the north side in the West Sea of Korea" from last Sunday to Thursday, the Navy Command was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

 

This is the first outcry by North Korea on the sea boarder dispute since the inter-Korean summit early in the month.

 

"Their behavior is an unpardonable and undisguised provocation to the Declaration for the Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity," said the KCNA.

 

"It is a product of their political and strategic attempt to drive the north-south relations to the phase of confrontation again," it added.

 

North Korea said South Korea must stop provocations immediately and warned that its navy will not remain an onlooker.

 

During the summit earlier this month, the two Koreas signed the Declaration on the Advancement of South-North Korean Relations, Peace and Prosperity which says that both sides have agreed to create a special peace zone and to "designate a joint fishing area in the West Sea to avoid accidental clashes."

 

The navies of the two Koreas clashed in 1999 and 2002 around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

 

The NLL was not clearly demarcated when the Korean War ended in 1953. The American-led UN Command unilaterally delineated the NLL, but North Korea has never recognized it.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)