MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea demanded apologies from South Korea over a clash between the two countries' navies in the Yellow Sea earlier on Tuesday, the North's official news agency reported.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said earlier a North Korean patrol vessel had crossed the disputed sea border, prompting the South to fire warning shots. The communist state's boat, which fired back, "suffered considerable damage," the agency said. No casualties were reported on either side.
The North's General Staff, quoted by the KCNA agency, accused the South Korean boat of breaching the border and demanded Seoul make an apology for the "armed provocation" and take "measures to prevent such incidents in the future."
This is the first clash in seven years along the demarcation line set unilaterally by the U.S.-led UN forces after the Korean War ended in 1953.
Pyongyang does not recognize the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The two Koreas are technically still at war as they have not signed a peace treaty.
The incident occurred as North Korea is seeking direct talks with the United States on its nuclear program in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives. Last week, the country announced it had finished the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods and claimed "remarkable achievements" in weaponizing plutonium extracted from them.
