North Korea fires artillery salvo as it kicks off key party meeting

SEOUL – North Korea fired a salvo of artillery from a multiple rocket launcher system, South Korea’s military said on Dec 10, as Pyongyang kicked off a key meeting of its ruling party top brass.

The rockets were fired towards the Yellow Sea from the west of the Korean peninsula on Dec 9, an official from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.

Yonhap News Agency reported, citing military officials, that the firing was part of the North Korean military’s regular winter-time exercises.

Pyongyang has not commented on the launch, which came the same day that it began a major meeting of top officials.

That meeting, led by leader Kim Jong Un, will discuss key policy issues as well as plans for an upcoming Workers’ Party congress – North Korea’s first in five years.

On the first day, officials approved “five agenda items” for discussion this week, including a review of the work of the party’s Central Inspection Commission, responsible for rooting out corruption, the state media reported.

Professor Lim Eul-chul from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, told AFP the meeting would likely focus on the economy.

“There is a strong possibility that Kim Jong Un will present policies aimed at achieving breakthrough economic development over the next five years,” he said.

The launch also comes a week after South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung said he felt an apology was due to the North over his predecessor’s alleged order to send drones and propaganda leaflets across the border.

Pyongyang has not responded to the overture from Mr Lee, who has sought to mend fractured ties with the North.

North Korea last fired multiple artillery rockets in November just hours before

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the border

separating it from the South.

It also fired similar weapons minutes before Mr Lee held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November, Seoul said. AFP