North Korea fired tons of of artillery rounds alongside its sea boundary with neighboring South Korea in violation of a 2018 army settlement, Seoul’s protection ministry stated.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers stated North Korea fired 200 rounds within the waters north of their disputed western sea boundary. South Korea suffered no damages, it stated.
Joint Chiefs of Workers spokesperson Lee Sung Joon stated the North’s artillery firing was ”an act of provocation that threatens peace and heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula.” South Korea additionally urged North Korea to cease additional provocations.
The North’s front-line maritime firing train was the primary of its form in a few yr, escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
KIM JONG UN REVEALS NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION TO MAKE MORE NUKES AND LAUNCH MILITARY SATELLITES
Individuals watch a tv display screen displaying a information broadcast with file footage of North Korea’s artillery firing, at a railway station in Seoul on January 5, 2024. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
The final time South Korea accused North Korea of violating the deal on the buffer zones was in December 2022, when the North performed firing drills off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
The 2018 settlement created no-fly and buffer zones alongside their border, through which the 2 Koreas agreed to halt live-fire workouts and aerial surveillance.
Lee stated South Korea’s army will reply to the North’s artillery firing because it constantly displays North Korean strikes, in shut coordination with the USA.
On this undated photograph offered on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, heart, together with his daughter visits a manufacturing facility that produces transport erector launchers in North Korea. (Korean Central Information Company/Korea Information Service by way of AP)
Whereas the Joint Chiefs of Workers spokesperson didn’t present specifics on what corresponding step South Korea would take, residents of South Korea’s front-line island of Yeonpyeong stated army officers have requested them to evacuate as a result of it plans to launch maritime firing drills.
The Koreas’ western sea boundary performed host to bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009. In 2010, there was one other conflict that left 46 South Korean sailors lifeless.
On this undated photograph offered on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, high heart, together with his daughter, far proper, visits a manufacturing facility that produces transport erector launchers in North Korea. (Korean Central Information Company/Korea Information Service by way of AP)
Earlier Friday, North Korea’s state media stated Kim ordered authorities to extend manufacturing of autos able to launching missiles forward of a possible army showdown with its enemies.
Kim has additionally ordered Northern officers to make use of each weapon at its disposal — together with nuclear weapons — in a possible armed battle with South Korea and the U.S.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
These aggressive actions from the North come forward of the South’s parliamentary elections in April and the USA presidential election in November.
The Related Press contributed to this report.