hankyoreh

South Korea on Saturday dismissed as "unworthy" a claim by North Korea that the current maritime border in the West Sea had been drawn unfairly and thus should be moved further south.

In a statement issued on Friday, North Korea's navy accused South Korea of recently infiltrating dozens of warships into its waters across the disputed sea border, called the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

"The government feels no need to further discuss the issue because its position on the NLL remains firm," Kim Hyong-ki, a spokesman for South Korea's Defense Ministry told reporters.

North Korea claimed that the number of South Korean warships that violated its border reached five or six daily.

The maritime border "NLL," drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, has never been recognized by North Korea. It is the site of two deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.

The wrangling over the western sea border comes amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier Friday, North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles on its side of the West Sea.

South Korean officials believe that the North's missile launches, the first in nine months, were part of its routine military exercises but warned that it could lead to a naval clash.

"We are not seeing any signs of additional missile launches, but the military is making every preparation to counter any type of provocation," an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

North Korea periodically denounces the NLL, especially in the early months of the year ahead of the May-June crab catching season in the area.

Some South Korean officials suspect the North's latest provocation may be in line with its campaign against Seoul's new conservative administration of President Lee Myung-bak, who has vowed to take a tougher stance against the communist nation.

On Thursday, North Korea kicked out all South Korean government officials from an inter-Korean industrial complex on its side of the border in retaliation for remarks by a South Korean Cabinet minister linking any plan to expand the complex to progress in denuclearizing the North.

The two Koreas remain divided since 1945 and are technically at war, having signed no peace treaty at the end of the Korean War.

SEOUL, March 29 (Yonhap)