DPRK warns S Korea to pay dearly for naval clash

Slides
Photos

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-12 20:07

PYONGYANG: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lashed out on Thursday at South Korea for an earlier inter-Korean naval clash, and warned that South Korea would "be forced to pay dearly for the grave armed provocation."

DPRK warns S Korea to pay dearly for naval clash
In this June 15, 2009 photo, South Korean Navy patrol boats engage in an exercise in the West Sea, South Korea. Navy ships of the two Koreas exchanged fire Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009, along their disputed western sea border, a South Korean military officer said. [Agencies]

An article carried by the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun in the DPRK said the latest naval clash was "not a simple accidental incident but a deliberate and premeditated provocation perpetrated by the South Korean military in an effort to escalate the tension on the Korean Peninsula."

Another official newspaper Minju Joson said the naval clash was "a deliberate and vicious move for increasing the tension and a dangerous war action of the situation on the peninsula." It required South Korea to "stop digging its own graves, make an apology for the armed provocation and take a responsible measure against the recurrence of the similar case."

DPRK and South Korea's naval boats exchanged fire off west coast of the Korean Peninsula near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) area Tuesday morning. The two sides blamed each other for the clash. The DPRK and South Korea clashed near the NLL area twice previously, in 1999 and 2002.

The DPRK has not accepted the NLL which was fixed unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command after the 1950-1953 Korean War, but South Korea holds the NLL as the de-facto western inter-Korean border.