North Korea fired more than 200 shells on Friday into the Yellow Sea near the remote South Korean islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, where civilians have fled to shelters, and Seoul responded with a live-fire exercise in the same area.
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North Korea said its shelling near the two South Korean islands was “a natural response and countermeasure” to military drills conducted by Seoul, the official KCNA agency said.
This military escalation is one of the most serious on the peninsula since 2010, when the North bombed Yeonpyeong. This is followed by a series of bellicose statements by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in recent days has threatened, in particular, the “destruction” of South Korea and the United States.
Seoul condemned a “provocation” and conducted a live-fire exercise with K9 self-propelled howitzers in Yeonpyeong a few hours later. Ferries connecting these islands, which are very close to the North Korean coast, with the rest of South Korea have been suspended.
According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the North Korean army fired “more than 200 shots” in the waters near the two islands between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. (00:00 and 02:00 GMT).
According to local officials, residents were directed to emergency shelters. Authorities on Yeonpyeong Island told AFP the order was a “preventive measure.”
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik condemned “a provocative act that endangers peace on the Korean Peninsula and increases tensions.”
“Overwhelming Power”
The South Korean military will take “immediate, strong and definitive retaliation – we must support peace with overwhelming force,” he added.
The ministry clarified that the shooting did not cause any casualties or damage as the shells fell north of the de facto maritime border, the so-called Northern Limit Line (NLL).
North Korea, in turn, urged South Korea “not to commit any provocation under the pretext of a so-called countermeasure,” according to the KCNA agency. She threatened a “harsh countermeasure on an unprecedented scale.”
China, an ally of North Korea, called on “all parties to exercise calm and restraint” and hoped that they would “refrain from actions that increase tensions (and) that they would prevent a new escalation.”
The island of Yeonpyeong, which has around 2,000 inhabitants, is located 115 km west of Seoul and around ten kilometers south of the North Korean coast. Also very close to North Korea, Baengnyeong with 4,900 inhabitants is 210 km from the capital.
Residents “stricken with fear”
“At first I thought they were shells fired by our own army, but later I was told they were North Korea,” Kim Jin-soo, a resident of Baengnyeong Island, said on YTN television.
Residents were “stricken with fear,” he continued.
In 2010, the North Korean military bombed Yeonpyeong with live ammunition near the border in response to a South Korean exercise. In this first North Korean attack on civilians since the Korean War (1950-1953), four people died, two soldiers and two civilians.
South Korea responded. The artillery duel had lasted about an hour, with each side firing about 200 shells, raising fears of a major escalation.
Relations between the two Koreas are currently at their lowest point in decades.
In late December, Kim Jong Un ordered military preparations to be accelerated for a “war” that could “start at any time.” He denounced a “prolonged and uncontrollable crisis situation” that he said was triggered by joint military exercises by Seoul and Washington in the region.
Last year, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its constitution and fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions.
In another sign of worsening tensions between the two neighbors, Seoul in November partially suspended a 2018 agreement with Pyongyang that was aimed at preventing military incidents on the border.
North Korea responded by completely withdrawing from this agreement, which notably established “buffer zones” along the border where all firing of live ammunition was prohibited.
“Withdrawal from the agreement increases the possibility of military clashes in border areas,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
“The evacuation of our residents raises psychological and security concerns that could ultimately destabilize the South Korean economy,” the expert added.