North Korea fired artillery shells into offshore waters for the second day in a row on Wednesday. Pyongyang said on Wednesday that this was in response to a “military provocation” by the South Korean military near the border. The target of the shelling was a maritime “buffer zone” established in 2018 to ease tensions with South Korea. South Korea’s General Staff described the artillery fire as a “clear violation” of the 2018 agreement.
The “continued provocations by the north” would “undermine not only peace and security on the Korean peninsula, but also for the international community,” the South Korean general staff said on Wednesday. He urged North Korea to “stop its actions immediately”.
North Korean tests cause tensions
The renewed incident took place against the background of mounting political tensions in the Korean peninsula. In recent weeks, North Korea has repeatedly fired ballistic missiles and hundreds of artillery shells and launched fighter jets into its border area with South Korea.
According to the South Korean military, none of the approximately 100 projectiles fired on Wednesday landed in South Korean waters south of the maritime “buffer zone”. Pyongyang had already fired some 250 projectiles there on Tuesday, explaining that this was “as a strong military countermeasure” and a response to the “enemy’s war exercises against the north” along the border.
According to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, the North Korean military said on Wednesday morning that South Korea fired “ten missiles from multiple rocket launchers into the frontline front zone” of its armed forces.
South Korea and the US have been warning for months that Pyongyang could be preparing a nuclear weapons test. It would be the first such test since 2017. Experts also consider the increase in North Korean missile tests as a possible sign of an impending nuclear test. (AFP)