North Korea carried out a new barrage of artillery fire with live ammunition on the western coasts this Sunday, the South Korean press agency Yonhap reported, the third consecutive day of military exercises near the border with the South.
North Korea fired bursts of shells on Friday and Saturday in the same area, near the islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeongsouth of the de facto maritime border between the two countries.
“North Korea conducts live-fire exercises off west coast”Yonhap reported citing a military source.
“The North Korean army is carrying out exercises north of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, in the first line of fire, from around 4:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT)”reported the Yonhap agency.
No projectiles landed on the South Korean side of the Northern Boundary Line (LLN), which marks the de facto maritime border in the yellow sea and no victims have been reported, the agency said.
Local authorities on the South Korean islands in the Yellow Sea told AFP that they recommended the population stay at home. “Shots heard from North Korea”warns the text message sent to residents.
“Yeonpyeong Island troops are responding, but residents are advised to exercise caution with outdoor activities“, indicated the authorities.
North Korea fired hundreds of shells in the area on Friday, an incident that marked one of the most serious military escalations on the Korean Peninsula since 2010, when Pyongyang bombed a South Korean island.
Authorities in Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong evacuated people to shelters on Friday and suspended ferry service, and South Korean troops responded with live-fire exercises.
An operation to disorient
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-unon Sunday denied South Korea’s claims that Pyongyang launched dozens of artillery shells near the border on Saturday.
“Our soldiers did not fire a single projectile in the maritime zone”he declared Kim Yo Jong to the official KCNA news agency stating that it was an operation with the aim of disorienting.
MORE INFORMATION: North Korea fires more than 200 artillery missiles near South Korean islands
Kim stated that the North Korean military detonated explosives simulating the sound of gunshots 60 times and that they observed “the reaction” of the South Korean forces.
Relations between the two Koreas are at a moment of tension not seen in decades, after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inscribed in the Constitution the country’s vocation as a nuclear power, and tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles.
At a political meeting at the end of the year, Kim warned of a nuclear attack from the South and called for strengthening the military arsenal in the face of a conflict that he stated could “burst at any time”.
