North Korea fired over 60 rounds of artillery near sea border: South Korea
North Korea's shells landed in a buffer zone created under a 2018 tension-reducing deal, which fell apart in November after the North launched a spy satellite. Seoul's military said Saturday that "the repeated artillery fire within the prohibited hostile act zone by North Korea poses a threat to the peace on the Korean Peninsula and escalates tensions". They issued "a strong warning", and urged North Korea to immediately stop such actions.
"North Korea, following its claim of the complete nullification of the 'September 19 Military Agreement', continues to threaten our citizens with ongoing artillery fire within the prohibited hostile act zone," the JCS said. "In response, our military will take appropriate measures to safeguard our nation," it said. North Korea said Friday that its live-fire drills had not even had "an indirect effect" on the border islands.
Yeonpyeong, which has around 2,000 residents, is about 115 kilometres (70 miles) west of Seoul. Baengnyeong, with a population of 4,900, is about 210 kilometres west of Seoul. In November, Seoul partially suspended the 2018 military accord to protest Pyongyang's putting a spy satellite into orbit.
Pyongyang then scrapped the deal completely. In 2010, in response to a South Korean live-fire drill near the sea border, North Korea bombarded Yeonpyeong Island, killing four South Koreans -- two soldiers and two civilians. That was the first attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
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