South Is Threatened Over Disputed Zone

North Korea threatened military action against South Korean ships if they violate new movement restrictions in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea. The statement by the communist country was the most strident on the territorial dispute since the North suffered a humiliating defeat in a naval clash with South Korea last year. The 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War did not demarcate a sea border between the two Koreas, often prompting sovereignty disputes over a five-island region that is rich in crab and fish. The area is off the west coast of the Korean peninsula. The United Nations imposed a line that has served as a sea border, but North Korea has never accepted it.