North Korea's artillery drills near disputed sea border prompt South Korea to prepare similar exercises
North Korea fired artillery rounds near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Friday in violation of a fragile 2018 military agreement, officials said, prompting the South to plan similar drills. The rivals' drills are the first in about a year and are expected to deepen their already-serious animosity. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired 200 rounds in the waters north of their disputed western sea boundary.
It called the North Korean drills a provocation, though South Korea suffered no damage. It said South Korea will take a corresponding step, but didn't elaborate. Residents of South Korea’s front-line island of Yeonpyeong said the South Korean military has asked them to evacuate because it plans to launch maritime firing drills later Friday.
Also Read: 'War can break out any time': North Korea vows to launch more spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials in 2024 The Koreas' sea boundary has been the site of several bloody inter-Korean sea battles since 1999. North Korea also launched artillery strikes on Yeonpyeong island, killing four South Koreans, in 2010. The 2018 agreement requires the two Koreas to halt live-fire exercises and aerial surveillance in no-fly and buffer zones that they established along their border.
But the deal is in danger of collapsing after the two Koreas began bickering since the North's first military spy satellite launch in November. South Korea accused North Korea of restoring front-line guard posts that it had dismantled under the 2018 deal, after South Korea resumed front-line aerial surveillance in protest of the North's satellite launch. Earlier Friday, North Korea's state media said leader Kim Jong Un ordered authorities to increase production of
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