A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party on Wednesday criticized the South Korean Navy for firing warning shots at a Chinese patrol boat that violated the tense Yellow Sea border between Seoul and Pyongyang.
South Korea's military said its Navy fired warning shots at the Chinese patrol boat after broadcasting warnings through radio communication six times as the Chinese boat sailed about 2 kilometers into the South Korean waters on Tuesday afternoon.
The South Korean Navy had initially assumed the Chinese boat was a North Korean patrol boat that regularly violates the western sea border. The area has been the site of deadly naval clashes between Seoul and Pyongyang for decades.
It was later confirmed that a Chinese patrol boat had been monitoring Chinese ships that poached across the Yellow Sea border, according to the South Korean military.
It was not clear why the Chinese patrol boat did not retreat despite the South Korean Navy's broadcasting of warnings.
However, the state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Wednesday that the South Korean Navy's action was "very imprudent behavior," defending its patrol ship that violated the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas.
The Chinese patrol boat might not have received the South Korean Navy's broadcasting of warnings, it said.
Tensions remain high between Seoul and Pyongyang over the Yellow Sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line that was set by U.N.-led forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea does not recognize the de facto sea border.
The Chinese newspaper also raised questions over the legitimacy of the NLL, saying North Korea claims its own Yellow Sea border with South Korea and the NLL is "not an internationally-recognized border." (Yonhap)
