The army of North Korea fired more than 60 shells near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong this Saturday, Seoul's military said.a day after Pyongyang launched a barrage of artillery shells in the same region.
“North Korean forces fired more than 60 shells from the northwest area of Yeonpyeong Island today between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, warning North Korea to end its actions. .
On Friday, North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near Yeonpyeong and Bangnyeong, two sparsely populated South Korean islands located near the de facto maritime border between the two countries.
Yeonpyeong, which has about 2,000 inhabitants, is located on the Yellow Sea, about 115 km west of Seoul and 12 km south of the coast of North Korea's Hwanghae province. Baengyeong, also very close to North Korea, has 4,900 inhabitants and is located about 210 km west of the South Korean capital.
The authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians on Friday as a “preventive measure” and the ferries were suspended due to this military escalation, one of the most serious recorded on the Korean peninsula since 2010, when the North bombed Yeonpyeong and killed two soldiers and two civilians.
South Korea said Saturday that “repeated artillery fire (…) poses a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
The shootings take place after a volley of bellicose statements by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in recent days has threatened to “annihilate” South Korea and the United States.
On both Friday and Saturday, North Korean projectiles landed in a maritime buffer zone created under a 2018 agreement to de-escalate tensions, which broke down in November after North Korea launched a spy satellite.
South Korea said Saturday that “repeated artillery fire (…) poses a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and an escalation of tensions.” His military issued “a firm warning” and urged Pyongyang to cease its actions.
“North Korea, following its declaration of an annulment of the 'September 19 Military Agreement,' continues to threaten our citizens with continuous artillery fire within the zone where hostile acts are prohibited,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated. “In response, our military will take appropriate measures to safeguard our nation,” he added.
The North Korean regime claimed on Friday that its firing near the two islands was a “natural response” to maneuvers carried out by South Korea, according to the official North Korean news agency KCNA.
“They did not even have an indirect impact on the islands,” KCNA said.
In this context, China, which shares a border with North Korea and is the main political and economic support of that isolated Asian country, launched a call for “moderation” to all parties.
The United States called on North Korea “to refrain from any further destabilizing and provocative actions, and to resume diplomacy.” At the end of December, Kim Jong Un ordered military preparations to be accelerated in view of a “war” that could “break out at any moment.”
Last year, the North Korean leader inscribed in the Constitution the country's vocation as a nuclear power and tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles, violating UN resolutions.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the end of the 1950-1953 conflict on the peninsula, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
AFP
In other news
#North #Korea #fires #shells #South #Korean #island #Yeonpyeong
