N. Korea bans navigation in mid, upper Yellow Sea: sources

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has recently prohibited vessels from
navigating in mid and upper parts of the Yellow Sea, prompting South Korea to
monitor the region for possible signs of a provocation, intelligence sources said
Monday.

North Korea routinely sets up entry-prohibited areas in its western waters for
military training purposes, but the latest ban is unusually long in duration,
nearly two months until the end of July, the sources said on condition of
anonymity.
The authorities "are keeping watch over the region, believing the ban could be a
possible sign that there could be a provocation," one of the sources privy to
North Korean intelligence said.
South Korea's military is on a heightened alert after the North's May 25 nuclear
test and a subsequent series of short-range missile firings over the East Sea.
Pyongyang has also warned of military strikes against South Korean and U.S. naval
ships operating along the volatile western sea border, the site of two bloody
skirmishes in 1999 and 2002 that claimed scores of lives on the South Korean side
and heavier casualties for the North.
The inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, considered a powder keg on the
peninsula, served as the de facto maritime demarcation line after it was
unilaterally drawn by the U.N. Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea rejects the demarcation and demands it be redrawn further south.
The sources could not confirm exactly when the ban was put in place, whether
before or after the North's May 25 nuclear test, only saying it came "recently."
The entry ban applies to "central and northern parts" of the Yellow Sea, they said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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