Article Posted on : - Feb 04, 2010

A File Photo of the disputed Yellow Sea bordering North Korea and South Korea

SEOUL (KYODO): North Korea has declared two areas in the area of the western sea border with South Korea as temporary "firing zones" for four days from Friday, an official from the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.

The official said the Defense Ministry informed lawmakers from the ruling party about the North's declaration during a briefing at the National Assembly.

The North's setting of "firing zones" near the disputed sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line, suggests the North might again fire artillery shells as it did last week after declaring "no-sail zones" in the same area.

The North's live-fire artillery exercises led to South's navy being placed on high alert.

The Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean maritime borderline in the Yellow Sea, was drawn by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pyongyang has never recognized it and insists the maritime border line be drawn further south.

The two Koreas exchanged brief gunfire in the area last November and had bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.