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

(ATTN: ADDS inter-Korean maritime routes in the seas, new missile launch pad on the
west coast)
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.
Tensions remain particularly high along the fragile western sea border, the site
of two bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002. The North rejects the
demarcation, unilaterally drawn by the U.N. Command after the 1950-53 Korean War,
and demands it be re-drawn further south.
Pyongyang warned last week it would no longer guarantee the safety of South
Korean and U.S. naval ships operating along the western sea border. The threat
was a response to South Korea's participation in a U.S.-led campaign against the
spread of nuclear weapons and missiles, the Proliferation Security Initiative,
whose primary targets are believed to include North Korea.
The intelligence sources could not confirm exactly when the North's ban took
effect, whether before or after its May 25 nuclear test, only saying it came
"recently."
The entry ban applies to "central and northern parts" of the Yellow Sea, they said.
Despite the navigation ban, vessels continued to operate along inter-Korean
navigation routes. Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said inter-Korean
maritime communications and vessels "operated normally" along the shortcut
routes.
He could not confirm the North Korean ban, however, or whether the prohibited
areas overlap with inter-Korean navigation routes.
A South Korean vessel carrying non-governmental aid equipment traveled to North
Korea on Sunday, after the ban was believed to have been put in place, according
to the ministry. Two North Korean vessels were also passing South Korean waters,
it said.
Officials, meanwhile, are girding themselves for a possible missile launch from
the North's western coast. Intelligence sources said a train carrying an
intercontinental ballistic missile moved to the North's new Dongchang-ri launch
site along its northwestern coast near the border with China.
The new site, where construction began eight years ago, is greater in size than
the Musudan-ri site, from where the North has fired long and short-range
missiles.
North Korea had warned it would conduct a second nuclear test and
intercontinental ballistic missile tests if the U.N. Security Council does not
apologize for its condemnation of the April 5 rocket launch. The U.N. council has
toughened economic sanctions on the North and is currently preparing to introduce
harsher measures as punishment for its second nuclear test.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)