Posted on 11/3/2022 5:52 AM / updated on 11/3/2022 5:53 AM
(Credit: Jung YongJe/AFP)
Tensions in Asia reached levels not seen since 1953 after North Korea launched 23 missiles from different points and in different directions and fired about 100 artillery shells at a maritime border area. Seoul accused Pyongyang of “territorial invasion” because one of the missiles landed 57km off the South Korean coast. South Korean warplanes fought back, firing three airtosurface missiles over the maritime demarcation line. The two countries have technically been at war for 69 years after a bloody conflict left 2.5 million dead.
“North Korea’s provocation is in effect a territorial invasion with a missile that has crossed the northern border line for the first time since the Korean peninsula was partitioned,” said a statement from the office of South Korean President Yoon Sukyeol. Last night another North Korean missile was launched into the Pacific Ocean.
Through Pak Jon Chon, a senior official of the Kim Jong Un regime, North Korea condemned joint military exercises involving South Korean and US forces. “If the US and South Korea intend to use the armed forces against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DRPC) without fear, the special assets of the DPRK armed forces will immediately mobilize their strategic mission,” he assured. “The United States and South Korea will face a terrible situation and pay the most terrible price in history.”
artillery
According to The Washington Post, at least three North Korean missiles left the port city of Wonsan (Northeast) around 8:51 a.m. yesterday (8:51 p.m. on Tuesday in Brasília). One of them narrowly missed Sokcho, a coastal city in South Korea of 80,000 people famous for its seafood. The burst of artillery fire prompted South Korean authorities to issue a rare antiaircraft alert for Illeungdo Island (east) at 8:55 am, urging residents to take shelter in underground bunkers. Sirens sounded for about 20 minutes.
The Seoul Army acknowledged the seriousness of the threat to its sovereignty, calling the missile launch “highly unusual and intolerable.” The FrancePresse news agency reported that the three airtosurface missiles were launched shortly afterwards by South Korea near where the controversial North Korean projectile had landed. “These missiles landed near the northern border line, at a distance equivalent to the area where the missile struck from the north,” the South Korean army said in a statement.
According to Seoul Defense Forces, Pyongyang fired a total of seven shortrange ballistic missiles and 16 other missiles, including six surfacetoair missiles. The South Korean president called a meeting of his National Security Council to discuss the incident and ordered a “swift and strict response” to these “provocations.”
South Korean officials also canceled air routes over the Sea of Japan east of the peninsula and recommended local airlines to divert their planes to “ensure the safety of passengers on routes to the United States and Japan.”
According to Sejong Institute analyst Cheong Seongchang, these shootings from the north are “the most aggressive and menacing armed demonstration against the south since 2010.” In March of the same year, a North Korean submarine torpedoed a South Korean ship, killing 46 crew members, 16 of whom were on compulsory military service. In November of the same year, Pyongyang bombed a South Korean border island, killing two young sailors.
“Watchful Storm”
The shot comes amid largescale joint maneuvers by South Korea and the United States dubbed the Storm Watcher, involving hundreds of fighter jets from both sides. Kim Jongun’s regime has compared the military exercises to Operation Desert Storm the 19901991 US offensive in Iraq in response to the invasion of Kuwait.
North Korea’s isolated dynastic and communist government, equipped with nuclear capabilities, has conducted a record series of weapons tests this year. Seoul and Washington believe Pyongyang is preparing a new nuclear test that would be the first since 2017.