The authorities of both countries express different versions of events, blaming each other.
Tensions brewing between South Korea and North Korea over regular missile tests by the latter, reached an aggravation on the maritime border between the two countries. As a result of a violation of the maritime space of South Korea by a North Korean vessel, border guards opened fire on it, to which they received the same response from the opposite side. This is reported by Reuters.
According to a source, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it issued a warning and fired a warning shot on the morning of October 24 to force the North Korean a merchant ship that has crossed the sea border between countries to leave its waters. It happened around 3:40 a.m. local time.
Instead, the Armed Forces of North Korea accused their neighbors of a similar violation and fired 10 artillery shells in their direction. North Korea's military said it retaliated after a South Korean navy ship violated the border and fired a warning shot “under the pretext of searching for an unknown vessel.”
“We ordered to take initial countermeasures to decisively push out the enemy warship by firing ten rounds from multiple rocket launchers near the waters where the enemy movement occurred,” said a spokesman for the General Staff of the North Korean People's Army, according to the North Korean state news agency (KCNA).< /p>
Read also: South Korea jointly with the US launched ATACMS missiles in response to Pyongyang's provocation
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Previously, South Korea imposed sanctions against North Korea for the first time in five years, responding to the neighboring country's regular ballistic missile launches and nuclear threats by its leadership.
