Koreas exchange fire near disputed border

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South Korean soldiers conducting a military drill in Yanggu near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, northeast of Seoul Wednesday. — Reuters Photo

SEOUL, Jan 27 (AP): North Korea fired artillery and South Korea responded with warning shots along their disputed western sea border Wednesday, but there were no reports of casualties and the North vowed more barrages would follow as part of a military drill.
North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.
He said no casualties or damage were reported, and that the North's artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South fired into the air. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy.
Later Wednesday, North Korea issued a statement saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so.
Such drills "will go on in the same waters in the future," the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The North fired more shots later Wednesday but South Korea didn't respond, a Defense Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity due to department policy.
The exchange of fire came two days after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean-held waters, through March 29.
The North has sent a series of mixed signals to the South recently, combining offers of dialogue on economic cooperation with military threats, including one this month to destroy South Korea's presidential palace. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, meanwhile, angered Pyongyang by saying Seoul's military should launch a pre-emptive strike if there was a clear indication the North was preparing a nuclear attack.
South Korea's Defense Ministry sent the North's military a message Wednesday expressing serious concern about the firing and saying it fostered "unnecessary tension" between the two sides.
It also urged the North to retract the no-sail zones, calling them a "grave provocation" and a violation of the Korean War armistice.
Separately, South Korea's point man on North Korea criticised Pyongyang for raising tension near the sea border.
Earlier this month, North Korea called for the signing of a peace treaty and the lifting of sanctions as conditions for its return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks it quit last year.
The US and South Korea, however, brushed aside the North's demands, saying they can happen only after it returns to the disarmament negotiations and reports progress in denuclearisation.
Despite the exchange of fire, the capitals of the two Koreas were calm.