North Korea Shells Maritime Border

North Korea fired artillery near a contested maritime border Monday just hours after South Korea ended a naval drill.

Tensions between the two countries and along the disputed maritime border have been heightened since the North was accused of sinking a South Korean navy ship in March.

North Korea fired 110 to 130 rounds Monday from a base on its southwest coast near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea.

It isn't clear what the target was, but the shells landed in North Korean waters and caused no damage. The artillery firing was the first by North Korea in that region since January.

The firing came a few hours after South Korea finished the second of a two-day antisubmarine drills designed to boost naval training

Officials are calling the artillery firing a show of force and an act to grab South Korea’s attention without retaliation.

Last week, North Korea warned of retaliation to protest the South's latest naval exercise. Two weeks ago, when South Korea trained with a battle group from the U.S. Navy, North Korea warned it might use a "nuclear deterrent," a term some analysts believed meant Pyongyang might test a nuclear device. No action was taken.

South Korea and the U.S. have conducted more drills together this year because of the sinking of the Cheonan. Beginning next week, the two countries hold their largest land-based exercise of the year, a 10-day drill that occurs annually in August. It isn't tied to the sinking of the warship.

Over the past month North Korea has been negotiating with the United Nations command group that oversees the armistice between the two Koreas about ways to ease the tension and investigate conflicts over the maritime border in the Yellow Sea.

North Korea has criticized that border for decades, saying it restricts access to fishing grounds and forces its ships to detour to reach international waters.

The recent detention of a fishing vessel by the north is getting attention form the south.
The crew reported that the ship was being escorted to the eastern North Korean port city of Songjin.

The ship had been working in the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, when the seizure happened. It is unknown precisely where the ship was when North Korea apprehended it.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters