Tensions escalate as North Korea fires artillery shells off west coast

Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun delivers a briefing at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Friday, on North Korea's coastal artillery firing near Yeonpyeong Island and Baengnyeong Island. Yonhap

By Kim Hyun-bin

Tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea is stepping up its military provocations, including firing of artillery shells and rebuilding demolished guard posts.

The moves follow the North's November decision to scrap an inter-Korean military pact which was inked in 2018 to reduce border tensions.

On Friday morning, North Korea fired approximately 200 artillery shells into waters off its west coast, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The artillery was fired from Jangsan Cape and Deungsan Cape, both situated in the North's southwestern coastal areas, and continued for two hours starting from 9 a.m. The shells landed in the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border in the West Sea. This buffer zone was set under the 2018 military accord.

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There were no reported casualties or damage to South Korean civilians or military.

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

In response to the artillery firing, the South Korean military conducted live-fire drills on the northwestern border islands in the West Sea later in the day.

Residents of Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea take cover in an evacuation shelter, Friday. Yonhap

Along with Friday's firing, it was confirmed that North Korea has been using concrete to reconstruct frontline surveillance guard posts.

Following the military agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018, both South and North Korea had demolished 10 out of the 11 guard posts each operating within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), withdrawing forces and equipment. After the North's announcement to scrap the agreement in November, the South Korean authorities have noticed the North moving to restore the guard posts.

In addition to the guard posts' reconstruction, North Korean forces were observed planting land mines on the Gyeongui railway line within the DMZ, a symbolic route for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. Military authorities interpret this as a signal from North Korea to block and prevent future use of the train tracks.

Pyongyang announced the annulment of the 2018 pact after Seoul partially suspended the deal in protest of the North's successful launch of a military spy satellite. North Korea also fired artillery on Dec. 6 into a maritime buffer zone in the East Sea in violation of the accord.

Recently North Korean leader Kim Jong-un characterized inter-Korean ties as "relations between two states hostile to each other" during a ruling party meeting last month.