South Korea’s military fired warning shots at a North Korean ship on Monday morning, believing it had crossed the disputed maritime border between the two countries, prompting warning shots from North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

A North Korean merchant vessel reportedly crossed the North Korean demarcation line near Pyongyang Island at 03:42 local time and then retreated northward after warning shots were fired by the South Korean navy, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, as cited by Yonhap and Agerpres .

For its part, Pyongyang’s military said that a few minutes later, a South Korean warship breached the de facto 2.5 to 5 kilometer boundary, and North Korean warships (APVs) responded by firing ten warning shots from the west coast.

“The units of the west coast as part of the anti-tank missile defense system took the first countermeasure from a force repulse to the enemy warship, firing 10 rocket shells towards the territorial waters, where the movement of the enemy’s fleet was detected at 05:15,” the carrier said in a statement. General Staff of the PMC in a statement.

“We have once again issued a stern warning to the enemy about sources of naval provocations in addition to artillery fire and broadcasting cross-border messages through loudspeakers,” a North Korean military spokesman said.

The maritime border, considered a hot spot, has been the scene of several clashes between the two Koreas over the years

But tensions have escalated in recent weeks, with Pyongyang carrying out several missile launches and artillery fire that South Korea and Japan saw as provocative.

Pyongyang has significantly increased its military maneuvers recently, while Seoul and Washington say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is on the verge of conducting what would be his country’s seventh nuclear test.

Monday’s warning fire comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman travels to Japan for trilateral talks with Tokyo and Seoul, Washington’s allies, in a show of unity after the shooting. North Koreans.

During October, Pyongyang demonstrated its military might by launching a short-range ballistic missile, launching several artillery barrages and sending fighter jets near the border with South Korea.

Artillery fire has been carried out in its waters off its east and west coasts, violating a “buffer zone” established in a 2018 agreement with the South to prevent incidents at sea.

Pyongyang says it is responding to Seoul’s “provocations” and has described the weapons test as simulating “tactical nuclear strikes” on targets in South Korea.