Pyongyang warned its neighbor on Saturday of military retaliation after Seoul navy patrol boats fired warning shots at fishing vessels from the North near their disputed Yellow Sea border.

Pyongyang warned its neighbor on Saturday of military retaliation after Seoul navy patrol boats fired warning shots at fishing vessels from the North near their disputed Yellow Sea border.

The North's military command in the southwest said the South's navy vessels on Friday intruded into its territorial waters and "went on a shooting rampage", in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official news agency.

The military has been ordered to turn the Yellow Sea into a trap for "enemies and wage a great war for national reunification if enemies fire even a bullet into the area of the (North Korean) side," it said.
"What remains to be done now is a powerful strike of the (North's) front units which know of no limit."

The South said that warning shots were fired at the North Korean vessels after they crossed the disputed border, the latest in a series of incursions.

None of the North Korean vessels were hit and they swiftly returned to their side of the western sea boundary after the incident, a defense ministry spokesman said.