TOKYO, February 15. /TASS/. South Korea is blatantly violating North Korea’s sovereignty by deploying warships to the Northern Limit Line that Seoul considers to be the de-facto maritime border between the two countries, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said.

"The puppet Republic of Korea is trying to defend the so-called fictitious Northern Limit Line, which is neither based on international law nor has a legal justification. They are using pretexts such as control over fishing vessels and maritime patrols to deploy warships of various classes to our waters and blatantly violate our sovereignty," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted him as saying.

Kim also issued orders to enhance combat readiness in the Yellow Sea near the islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeongdo, where, in his words, the majority of South Korea’s provocations are taking place.

North Korea held coastal artillery drills on January 5, firing 192 munitions at proxy targets in waters near the South Korean islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, but north of the Northern Limit Line. In response, the South Korean armed forces conducted similar exercises, firing some 400 shells. Seoul noted that the North Korean munitions had exploded in a buffer zone.

The September 19, 2018, inter-Korean de-escalation agreement established maritime buffer zones where the firing of artillery shells at proxy targets is prohibited. In November 2023, Pyongyang announced a complete withdrawal from the accord after Seoul had stopped complying with some of its provisions in response to the launch of a North Korean reconnaissance satellite.