South Korea has put its armed forces on high alert after its navy sank a North Korean gunboat in the Yellow Sea this morning. The sinking was the most serious incident in a week-old confrontation between the naval forces of the two Koreas. The dispute began over fishing rights in disputed waters adjoining the buffer zone between the two countries.
Talks are underway between generals from North Korea, and the US backed United Nations command, after it was reported that North Korean ships had fired at one of Seoul's patrol boats in the Yellow Sea this morning. A spokesman from the South Korean defence ministry said that their ships later returned fire, managing to disable one of its attacker's torpedoes.
Southern officials said the incident took place as their patrol boats tried to prevent three communist vessels entering a buffer zone, claimed by Seoul. At the meeting which is taking place on the border, North Korea lodged a strong protest with the US military side against military provocations being committed by South Korean naval vessels in the north's territorial waters.
The US-backed UN Command is the counterpart to North Korea since the 1953 truce, which ended three years of fighting between the two Koreas but left them still technically at war.
