North Korea fires over 200 rounds of artillery shells near South Korean islands
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Residents on the two islands were ordered to evacuate, in one of the most serious military escalations between the two Koreas since 2010.
PHOTO: AFP
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Seoul – North Korea fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands on Jan 5, Seoul’s Defence Ministry said, prompting a live-fire drill from the South Korean military.
Residents on the two islands were ordered to evacuate, and ferries were suspended as South Korea held a live-fire exercise after the North’s barrage – one of the most serious military escalations on the peninsula since Pyongyang fired shells at one of the same islands in 2010.
North Korea later said it conducted firing drills as a “natural response” to military actions by South Korea’s “military gangsters” in recent days. It also threatened an “unprecedented strong response” if Seoul continued to make provocative moves.
The Jan 5 live firing followed repeated warnings from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime in Pyongyang that it was prepared for war against South Korea and its ally, the United States.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the North’s military fired “over 200 rounds” of artillery shells on the morning of Jan 5 near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, two sparsely populated South Korean islands that are just south of a de-facto maritime border between the two sides.
The shells landed in the so-called buffer zone along the border, created by a 2018 tension-reducing deal, which fell apart in November after Mr Kim’s spy satellite launch.
Resuming artillery fire within the buffer zone “is a provocative act that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and escalates tensions”, said South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik.
In response to Pyongyang’s actions, Seoul’s military will take “immediate, strong, and final retaliation – we must back peace with overwhelming force”, he added.
North Korea’s Army General Staff said its defensive coastal units fired 192 rounds as part of its drills “as natural response by our military against military actions by South Korea’s military gangsters”, the official KCNA news agency reported.
The drills had no impact on South Korean islands near the maritime border as claimed by the South, the statement said, calling the assertion “an attempt to mislead public opinion”.
Pyongyang’s major ally and benefactor China on Jan 5 called for “restraint” from all sides.
“We hope that all relevant parties maintain calm and restraint, refrain from taking actions that aggravate tensions, avoid further escalation of the situation, and create conditions for the resumption of meaningful dialogue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
Evacuation orders
Yeonpyeong, which has around 2,000 residents, is about 115km west of South Korea’s capital, Seoul. Baengnyeong, with a population of 4,900, is about 210km west of Seoul.
Local officials on both islands told AFP that residents had been told to evacuate, describing the order as a “preventative measure” ahead of the South Korean military drill. The order was lifted soon after, the Yonhap news agency reported.
One resident of the island spoke of “shaking in fear” at the barrage.
“At first I thought it was the shells fired by our own military... but was told later it was by North Korea,” Baengnyeong island resident Kim Jin-soo told local broadcaster YTN.
In November, Seoul partially suspended the 2018 military accord to protest against Pyongyang’s sending of a spy satellite into orbit, prompting the North to scrap it completely.
“The nullification of the (accord) increases the possibility of military clashes in the border areas,” said Professor Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
He added that “the evacuation of our residents raises psychological and security concerns, which can ultimately destabilise the economy of South Korea”.
Clash in 2010
In 2010, in response to a South Korean live-fire drill near the sea border, the North bombarded Yeonpyeong island, killing four South Koreans – two soldiers and two civilians.
That was the first attack on a civilian area since the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.
The South returned fire, with the resulting exchange lasting more than an hour, as the two sides traded over 200 shells, sparking brief fears of a full-fledged war.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Mr Kim enshrined the country’s status as a nuclear power into the Constitution while test-firing several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.
At Pyongyang’s key year-end policy meetings, he warned of a nuclear attack on the South and called for a build-up of the country’s military arsenal ahead of armed conflict that he warned could “break out any time”.
In an effort to deter Pyongyang, Washington deployed a nuclear-powered submarine
The North has described the deployment of Washington’s strategic weapons, such as B-52 bombers, in joint drills on the Korean peninsula as “intentional nuclear war provocative moves”. AFP, REUTERS
