Two North Korean naval boats briefly crossed the tense western sea border with South Korea in the first violation since a South Korean warship sank in the area following a mysterious explosion in March, the South’s military said yesterday.
A North Korean patrol boat sailed about 3km into South Korean waters on Saturday night, but quickly retreated after a South Korean navy ship broadcast warnings, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
In less than an hour, another North Korean patrol boat intruded across the border but returned to its waters after another transmission and two warning shots from the South Korean vessel, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
The first North Korean boat responded by radioing its own warning, accusing the South Korean vessel of violating the sea border before it sailed back to the North, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Meanwhile, Japan urged China to cut its nuclear arsenal or at least to stop stockpiling more atomic weapons, prompting a strong reaction from Beijing at their foreign ministers’ talks, officials said yesterday.
The demand came when Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) at talks in South Korea on Saturday, said Kazuo Kodama, the Japanese foreign ministry’s press secretary.
Okada and Yang arrived in Gyeongju on Saturday to attend the two-day foreign ministerial meeting with South Korean host Yu Myung-hwan.
The three foreign ministers discussed issues including the growing tension over the sinking of the Cheonan in March.
The Japanese minister said China was the only permanent five (P5) member of the UN Security Council that was still accumulating nuclear weapons.
“Amongst the P5, it is only China which is increasing its nuclear arsenal,” Okada told Yang during the talks.
“Therefore I would like to request the Chinese government either to reduce the number of nuclear arsenals or at least commit ourselves not to increase its nuclear arsenals from the current level,” he quoted Okada as saying.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) said yesterday that Yang had repudiated Okada’s remarks and defended Beijing’s nuclear policy.
“Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi refuted the irresponsible remarks by Japan on the spot,” Ma said.
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