Koreas Exchange Fire at Sea. War?

North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells on Wednesday from its shoreline into waters near its disputed western sea border with South Korea, and the South Korean military returned warning shots from smaller weapons, according to South Korean military officials and fishermen on a border island.

After the morning barrage, South Korea issued three warning broadcasts and then its marines based on a border island unleashed about 100 warning shots with their antiaircraft guns.

Neither side reported casualties or damage. The North Korean military warned in a statement that more shells would be on their way as part of a winter training exercise, highlighting instability in the western waters, the most volatile segment of the Koreas’ border.

On Wednesday morning, about 30 rounds of North Korean artillery splashed into two spots just north of the so-called Northern Limit Line, a United Nations-drawn sea border accepted by the South but disputed by the North, said a spokesman at the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, who spoke on condition of anonymity until the government made a formal announcement.

Hours later, North Korea fired a new barrage involving “tens of shells,” the official said.

The rising tension at sea comes amid recent signals from Pyongyang that it was ready to return six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program. In return for resuming the talks, North Korea has demanded talks on a peace treaty with the United States to formally end the 1950-3 Korean War and the lifting of United Nations sanctions tightened after its two nuclear tests.