The two Koreas had a brief naval skirmish in Yellow Sea waters on Tuesday but there were no casualties in the incident that came just ahead of a visit to Asia by US President Barack Obama, South Korea's defence ministry said. North Korea has been seeking direct talks with the Obama administration while riling the global powers by last week saying it had produced more arms-grade plutonium. The United States will announce in the next several days whether it will start direct talks with North Korea amid signs Pyongyang may be ready to return to broader nuclear disarmament negotiations, a US official said on Monday. The North's sabre rattling is often seen by analysts as a bargaining ploy to increase its leverage in negotiations. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North Korean patrol vessel went about 1.3 km into waters claimed by the South. "We sent warning messages to them twice before they crossed the NLL and three times after they crossed the NLL," added Lee Ki-sik, Chief of Intelligence Operation Division. Domestic media say the North's vessel was partially destroyed in the fight. The two Koreas have fought two deadly naval battles in the past decade in the Yellow Sea waters near the contested sea border called the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The NLL was set unilaterally by U.S.-led U.N. forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North has said it sees the border as invalid. In 2002, when South Korea hosted World Cup matches, North Korea fired at the South and killed 6 South Korean sailors. South Korea fired back, but the number of North Korean casualties is not known.
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