NK fires some 200 artillery shells off western coast: S. Korean military

The Republic of Korea Marine Corps conducts a combat exercise on Yeonpyeong Island in this undated photo. Korea Times file

North Korea fired some 200 artillery shells into waters off its western coast Friday morning, Seoul's military said, in its latest saber-rattling after it scrapped a 2018 inter-Korean military accord in November.

The move prompted an emergency evacuation order for civilians on the South Korean western border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong. Also in response, the South Korean military staged live-fire artillery drills.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the artillery firings from Jangsan Cape and Deungsan Cape, both in the North's southwestern coastal areas, from 9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The shells splashed into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The buffer zone, where artillery firing and naval drills are banned, was set under an inter-Korean military accord signed on Sept. 19, 2018, to reduce border tensions.

The JCS said there was no reported damage to South Korean citizens and the military or losses of human life from North Korea's firing.

The South Korean military called the North's move a "provocative" act and warned of its corresponding measures.

S. Korea orders civilians on western border islands to evacuate over NK's artillery firing 2024-01-05 13:34  |  Defense

"We gravely warn that the entire responsibility of such crisis-escalating situations lies with North Korea and strongly call for its immediate halt," JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said in a press conference.

"Under close coordination between South Korea and the United States, our military is tracking and monitoring related activity, and will conduct corresponding measures to North Korea's provocations."

This file photo shows the North Korean coast closest to Yeonpyeong Island. Two red circles show gun bunker positions. Korea Times file

In the afternoon, South Korean Marines on the northwestern border island of Yeonpyeong conducted live-fire artillery drills with K9 self-propelled howitzers, according to military officials.

It marked the first such exercise by the Marines on the northwestern border islands since the signing of the 2018 agreement.

Last November, North Korea unilaterally scrapped the 2018 accord after Seoul partially suspended the deal in protest of the North's successful launch of a military spy satellite.

Pyongyang last fired artillery shots into a maritime buffer zone in the East Sea on Dec. 6, 2022.

The 2018 accord, signed under the previous liberal President Moon Jae-in, was designed to dial down military tensions, prevent accidental clashes and build mutual trust.

It included setting up maritime buffer zones, a land buffer zone banning artillery drills and regiment-level field maneuvers, as well as no-fly zones near the border to prevent accidental aircraft clashes.

North Korea's latest saber-rattling came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as relations "between two states hostile to each other" and called for stepped-up preparations to "suppress the whole territory of South Korea" at a year-end ruling party meeting.

South Korea's spy agency said last month that North Korea is highly likely to carry out military provocations or cyberattacks in early 2024 ahead of the South's parliamentary election in April and the U.S. presidential election in November.