North Korea declares 'firing zone' along disputed sea border

Seoul - North Korea on Monday declared a "firing zone" in waters along its disputed sea border with South Korea, warning South Korean warships to steer clear of the area. "To counter the reckless military provocations of the warmongers of the South Korean military," the North Korean military declared the waters in the Yellow, or West, Sea "under the control of our army as a peacetime naval firing zone of coastal and island artillery units," the Navy Command of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried on North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

The South Korean military said it believed there was nothing unusual about the announcement.

"North Korea may try to raise tension on the Korean Peninsula to tighten its control on its people," said a military officer who requested anonymity.

North Korea has refused to recognize the Northern Limit Line, a sea border demarcated by the United Nations after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Instead, Pyongyang drew the Military Demarcation Line just south of the Northern Limit Line in 1999.