North Korea

The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong was a confrontation at sea between North Korean and South Korean patrol boats along a disputed maritime boundary near... Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in 2002. This followed a similar confrontation in 1999. Two North Korean patrol boats crossed the contested border and engaged two South Korean patrol boats. The North Koreans withdrew before South Korean reinforcements arrived. The Northern Limit Line is considered by South Korea as the sea boundary between itself and North Korea, while North Korea disagrees and states that the boundary is farther south. North Korean fishing vessels often wander into the area and are frequently chased away by South Korean patrol vessels. Occasionally a North Korean patrol tries to enforce its southern claim by traversing the limit line. In 2002 one such incursion turned into a naval battle along the limit line. On June 29, 2002 a North Korean patrol boat crossed the northern limit line and was warned to turn back. Shortly afterward a second patrol craft crossed the line and it too was warned to retreat back across the line.
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The Battle of Amami-Ōshima or the Spy Ship Incident in the Southwest Sea of Kyūshū was a six-hour confrontation between the Japan... Coast Guard and an armed North Korean vessel, taking place near the island of Amami-Ōshima, in the East China Sea. The encounter ended in the sinking of the North Korean Navy vessel, which the Japanese authorities later announced was determined to have been a spy craft. The as-yet unidentified ship was first seen in Japanese waters on Friday 21 December 2001. The armed trawler was detected by a communications station in Kikaijima, Kagoshima, which was under control of the Defense Intelligence Headquarters. A North Korean vessel encountered by the Japanese Coast Guard in 1999 was claimed by Japan to have been a spy craft, though North Korea denied it; other incidents have occurred involving illegal fishing and drug trafficking. With the North Korean vessel's intentions unclear, the Japanese Coast Guard decided to intercept it.
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The First Battle of Yeonpyeong took place between the navies of North Korea and South Korea on 15 June 1999, off the island of Yeonpyeong. The... battle occurred after North Korea began a sustained campaign to redraw the maritime boundary line – known as the Northern Limit Line – between the two Koreas. On 6 June 1999, the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency claimed that the "sea boundary line" had been violated by South Korean warships that had illegally trespassed in the North's territorial waters. The following day, three North Korean patrol boats and 13 fishing boats belonging to the North Korean navy crossed the NLL 5.6 nautical miles off Yeonpyeong. The South Korean navy responded by sending five fast boats and four patrol ships in a bid to prevent the North Koreans from crossing the NLL. On 8 June, seven North Korean patrol boats and 17 fishing vessels repeatedly crossed the NLL between 05:55 and 23:20 local time. Twelve South Korean fast boats and four patrol ships were deployed and South Korean fishing boats were ordered to leave the area.
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The Battle of Yosu, in December 1998, was a naval skirmish that began when the South Korean military intercepted a North Korean semi-submersible... vessel attempting to land commandos on the north-east South Korean coast. Throughout 1998 there had been several incidents involving North Korean infiltrators attempting to land on the coast. In June a North Korean submarine was found in South Korean waters off Sokcho entangled in fishing nets with a dead crew that had committed suicide to evade capture. Another infiltration occurred in July when a dead commando and abandoned North Korean craft was discovered near the city of Donghae. On December 17, a 10 ton North Korean infiltration vessel was discovered by the South Koreans about a mile off the coast of Yeosu. About a dozen South Korean ships were scrambled to intercept it. After several warnings were given, the South Korean Navy fired warning shots at the semi-submersible. The North Korean craft ignored the warnings and opened fire on the South Korean vessels. It then attempted to escape, fleeing some 60 miles while being tracked by patrol planes and boats. By the next day it sank.
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China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous state in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East... Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres . It is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area. The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities , and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions , Hong Kong and Macau. Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims the island of Taiwan, which is controlled by the government of the Republic of China, as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War.
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