(2nd LD) N. Korea bans navigation in central, northern Yellow Sea: sources

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; ADDS press release by Unification Ministry)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea reaffirmed its stance on its Yellow Sea
border with North Korea on Monday amid reports that the North has placed a
navigation ban on vessels near the border, which was unilaterally drawn by the
U.N. Command, as part of its plan for a possible act of provocation.

"Our government and the U.N. Command will maintain the Korean War armistice and
keep the Northern Limit Line," the Unification Ministry said in a press release.
Intelligence sources said earlier in the day that the North recently prohibited
vessels from navigating in the central and northern parts of the Yellow Sea,
prompting South Korea to monitor the region for possible signs of a provocation.

North Korea routinely sets up entry-prohibited areas in its western waters for
military training purposes, but the latest ban that lasts nearly two months and
ends in July is unusually long in duration, 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 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 Yellow 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 will no longer abide by the armistice agreement
that ended the 1950-53 Korean War nor guarantee the safety of South Korean and
U.S. naval ships operating along the 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, of which North Korea is believed to be among the primary targets.
In the Monday press release, the ministry called the North's claim "far-fetched."
Intelligence sources could not confirm whether the North's ban took effect 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 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 through 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 which 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 did 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
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