Round 2: DPRK fires 60 artillery shells near maritime border - S.Korea
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The DPRK launches more than 60 artillery rounds near a contested maritime border with South Korea on Saturday, according to the South Korean military.
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A TV screen shows a file image of DPRK's military exercise during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 (AP)
The DPRK launched more than 60 artillery rounds near a contested maritime border with South Korea on Saturday, according to the South Korean military.
According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the artillery was fired between 4 and 5 pm, with shells landing on the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between both countries.
Just yesterday, the DPRK military fired 200 artillery shells into waters off its western coast in the vicinity of Yeonpyeong Island. The JCS alleged that shells were fired at 9:00 am local time until 11:00 am from Jangsan Cape, north of South Korea's northernmost Island of Baengnyeong, and Deungsan Cape, north of the South's western border island of Yeonpyeong.
The South Korean military did not threaten the DPRK with a response, but "strongly urged" it to halt all activities that jeopardized peace in the Peninsula.
North Korea later said it conducted firing drills as a "natural response" to military actions by South Korea's "military gangsters" in recent days. It also threatened an "unprecedented strong response" if Seoul continued to make provocative moves.
'Peace' deterred by the US, South Korea
In late December, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un warned that Pyongyang would not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if "provoked with nukes," state media said.
Kim's warning follows a meeting between South Korea and the United States last week in Washington, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the DPRK.
The meeting's agenda included "nuclear and strategic planning," and the allies reiterated that any nuclear attack by Pyongyang on the United States or South Korea would result in the end of Kim's regime.
Kim told his military's missile bureau "not to hesitate (launching) even a nuclear attack when the enemy provokes it with nukes," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.
Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo released a statement shortly afterward, urging the DPRK to "stop conducting further provocations and accept our call for engaging in substantive dialogue without preconditions."
