DPRK denies exchange of fire in sea border

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday denied firing artillery shells toward a?ROK Navy ship on the previous day, rejecting Seoul's claim that the two countries exchanged fire in the disputed western sea border.

DPRK fires artillery near ROK's patrol ship

"(The South) is fabricating and making a fuss that we fired artillery shells toward their warship in waters near the Yeonpyeong Island and that they fired back in response," the Southwest Front Command of the Korean People' s Army(KPA) said in a statement on Friday.

"The confirmed fact is that the puppet Navy warships, which crossed our sea security border and intruded deep into our side of the sea, clumsily fired (artillery shells) under the pretext of intercepting a peaceful Chinese fishing boats and fabricated as if we fired (first)," said the statement released by the official KCNA news agency.

On Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the DPRK has fired two artillery shells near a South Korean warship on patrol in the tensely-guarded western sea.

The shells fired from north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, fell in waters 14 km south of Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea at around 6 pm, said the JCS.

The firing came a day after the Southwestern Command of the KPA warned of an "aimed shot" at South Korean battleships, accusing South Korea of having fired several shots at the DPRK patrol ships on Tuesday.