South Korea said that North Korea fired 100 additional artillery shells off its west coast on Wednesday, barely hours after it had fired hundreds of shells into the ocean off its east and west coastlines in what it described as a serious warning to South Korea.
North Korea has been testing missiles at an unprecedented rate this year, and on Friday it fired a short-range ballistic missile and many artillery rounds close to the strongly fortified inter-Korean border. In order to improve their capacity to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korean forces began their annual Hoguk defence exercises on Monday.
In response to the joint and South Korean military exercises, Pyongyang has responded strongly, branding them provocations and threatening retribution. According to Seoul, the drills are frequent and defense-focused. In a statement asking Pyongyang to stop actions endangering regional peace and security, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that North Korea launched the most recent rounds at roughly 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT).
According to a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff in the North, the most recent action was in retaliation for South Korea’s launching of more than 10 shells from multiple rocket launchers close to the frontline between 8:27 and 9:40 a.m. According to the KPA spokesman, “Our Army strongly warns the enemy forces to immediately stop the highly irritating provocative act in the frontline areas,”
Wednesday’s exchange of gunfire came soon after the North on Tuesday night fired 150 rounds off its east coast and about 100 shells into the ocean off its west coast. Later, North Korea claimed the rounds were fired as a “serious warning” and “strong military countermeasure” against South Korea.
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