朝韓船隻在邊界附近海域交火

South and North Korean ships exchanged warning shots near a disputed maritime border on Tuesday, highlighting the countries’ volatile relationship just three days after a high-level meeting raised hopes of a thaw.

韓國和朝鮮巡邏艇週二在邊界附近一處爭議海域發生交火。三天前，兩國剛舉行一場高層會談，讓外界看到兩國改善關係的希望。

Seoul’s defence ministry said that a North Korean naval vessel had strayed on Tuesday morning half a nautical mile over the Northern Limit Line – a border set down by the US-led UN force at the end of the Korean war, which has never been accepted by Pyongyang.

韓國國防部稱，週二早晨，一艘朝鮮船隻越過了“北方界線”0.5海里。“北方界線”是朝鮮戰爭結束時由美國領導的聯合國盟軍劃定的，但朝鮮一直不予承認。

A South Korean ship fired heavy machinegun rounds as a warning, and the North Korean ship returned warning fire before retreating, having spent about 10 minutes south of the NLL.

一艘韓方巡邏艇隨即向朝鮮巡邏艇開火。朝鮮巡邏艇在開火回擊後撤退，此時已在“北方界線”南側停留了約10分鐘。

No damage or injuries were reported – in contrast with other clashes in the region over the past decade, notably North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island in 2010, which killed four people.

目前尚未有損失或傷亡的報告。

However, the incident will temper optimism over the visit on Saturday of an unusually high-level North Korean delegation to Incheon, near South Korea’s capital, to mark the close of the Asian Games in the city.

但此次事件還是爲朝韓關係再度蒙上陰影。僅在上週六，朝鮮派出罕見的高規格代表團訪問韓國仁川市，出席了在那裏舉行的亞運會閉幕式。