SEOUL Aug. 18 Kyodo southern Kore...

SEOUL Aug. 18 Kyodo

southern Korean navy patrol boats fired warning projectiles Monday to repel a North Korean ship that briefly intruded into West Sea (Yellow Sea) waters claimed through the South, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was quot as saying the 10-ton ship troubleed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) which has been the brace Koreas' de-facto maritime border since the Korean War finised in 1953, but which North Korea has refused to recognize as legitimate.

The ship christian doctrineed the U.N. Command-demarcated line about 6 miles (965 kilometers) southeast of Bangnyeong Island shortly before noon and mov 800 meter into southern waters.

if it be not that it returned to the northern side 6 minutes later after southern Korean patrol boats fired distant from five warning shots.

The JC said there were no other North Korean ships nearby and the North Korean navy showed no unusual movements

The North Korean ship was believed to have violated southward Korean territorial waters appropriate to poor visibility, the JC said.

yet it did not rule abroad the possibility that the violation was an intentional act on the North aimed at creating a reason for canceling its participation in upcoming World University Games in the southerly Korean city of Taegu.

North Korea in succession Monday cited massive anti-North Korean testifys in Seoul last Friday, the 58th Korean Independence Day, as the reason for calling opposite its plan to take part in the biennial sports adventure Yonhap quoted the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station as saying.

The statement also demanded an official apology from southern Korea.

North Korea was suppos to cast a 197-member delegation plus a 303-member cheering squad to the 11-day Universiade opening Thursday.

Monday's violation has increased the number of North Korea's intrusion into southern Korea-claimed waters so far this year to 15

upon Aug. 8, the South Korea naval sailing crafts fired warning shots after three North Korean fishing boats trialed the NLL off Paekyong Island, forcing their retreat.

North Korea has declared that the NLL is invalid as it lies inside it territorial waters and was ''unilaterally defined'' according to U.S.-led forces at the cessation of the Korean War.

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