North Korea tensions raise after rocket launch

South Korean navies used warning shots to prevent North-Korean patrol from crossing its marine border. The previous day, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket, aggravating tensions between the two countries.

Both Koreas disagree with the location of their respective marine borders in Yellow sea. Called "North limitation line", this marine frontier was traced by the United Nations autorities in 1953 at the end of the Korean war. Pyongyang won't aknowledge this dividing line, transformed into a bloody battlefield between the close enemies in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

Incidents such as Monday's occur rather frequently and more serious outcome rarely ensue from them. However, South Korea is in high state of alert after North-Kore conducted its fourth nuclear trial on 6 January, and launched a rocket on Sunday, which Seoul trusts to be a concealed ballistic missile launch test.