BBC News
27 January 2010
North Korea has fired artillery shots near the disputed sea border with South Korea and the South has returned fire, according to Yonhap news agency.
It said the North fired several shells into the sea near the South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island off the countries’ western coast.
On Tuesday, North Korea declared a no-sail zone in waters off its coast, media reports say.
South Korea officials said the exchange caused no casualties or damage.
The North fired into waters near the border just after 0900 local time (0000 GMT), a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
“Our military immediately fired back in response,” a Seoul presidential official told the news agency on condition of anonymity.
Constant tension
The official said the North’s artillery rounds landed north of the sea border, while Seoul’s forces fired at the rounds while they were in the air, AFP reports.
The western sea border is a constant source of military tension between the two Koreas.
There have been three deadly exchanges between the two Koreas along the sea border in the past decade.
