DPRK declares sea border firing zone

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has declared the waters along its disputed sea border with South Korea a "firing zone." It also warned ships from the South to stay away from the area.

Pyongyang, said on Monday that it would "use armed force" to defend the demarcation line with Seoul on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK also accused the South of attempting to turn the Northern Limit Line into its permanent water border, and using military provocation in the region.

The DPRK rejects the Northern Limit Line, and only recognizes the demarcation line it drew in 1999, which lies further south. The Northern Limit Line was drawn unilaterally by the UN, at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The ensuing dispute has since led to deadly skirmishes in 1999, 2002, and last month.

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2009, file photo, a South Korean fishing  boat passes by the South Korean Navy's floating base near South  Korea's western Yeonpyong Island, near the disputed sea border  with North Korea. North Korea declared waters along its disputed  sea border with South Korea a 'firing zone' Monday Dec. 21, 2009,  and warned ships from the South to stay away from the area, which  was the scene of a deadly clash last month.(AP Photo/Yonhap,  Choi Jae-gu, File)