North fires artillery to react to South-U.S. drills

North Korea's military fired some 90 artillery shells into the maritime buffer zone in the East Sea Tuesday afternoon, which South Korean defense officials denounced as a violation of an inter-Korean military agreement.

The South Korean military conducts a live-fire drill in Hwacheon, Gangwon on Oct. 28. [YONHAP]

North Korea's military fired some 90 artillery shells into the maritime buffer zone in the East Sea Tuesday afternoon, which South Korean defense officials denounced as a violation of an inter-Korean military agreement.

An alert about the North Korean artillery barrage from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was sent at 5:30 p.m., several hours after Pyongyang's military warned it had ordered frontline units to fire into the sea in response to joint live-fire drills held by South Korea and the United States near the inter-Korean border.

The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said it issued the order in response to signs of artillery being fired from multiple South Korean rocket launchers and howitzers near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) beginning at 9:15 a.m., according to a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The South Korean and the U.S. militaries have been conducting live-fire drills in Cheorwon, Gangwon, close to the DMZ since Monday.

“We immediately ordered frontline artillery units to launch artillery firing into the sea to issue a strong warning,” an unnamed KPA General Staff spokesperson said in the statement.

The KPA official called on the South to immediately stop “provocative” military actions.

Tuesday’s order to the North Korean military to fire warning shots came one day after the North fired approximately 130 artillery shells into eastern and western maritime “buffer zones,” which the North said was also to protest the allies’ ongoing live-fire drills.

The KCNA reported Monday evening that North Korea's military had conducted its own artillery drill beginning around 3 p.m. after detecting the South had launched dozens of “projectiles” near the inter-Korean border, citing a spokesperson of the KPA General Staff.

“The enemy should immediately cease military actions that cause escalation of tensions in areas near the front lines where visual surveillance is possible,” the unnamed spokesperson said Monday, warning that the North would respond “firmly” and with “overwhelming” military action to any provocation.

The shells fired by the North on Monday landed in a buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean maritime boundary, according to the JCS.

The joint South Korean-U.S. artillery drills are scheduled to end on Tuesday, according to Seoul’s defense officials.

The JCS said Monday the South Korean military relayed several warnings to the North regarding the artillery barrage in the maritime buffer zones, calling it a “violation of the September 19 military agreement” and demanding an “immediate suspension of provocations.”

Maritime buffer zones were set up under the 2018 inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement, which called for the de-escalation of cross-border tensions and was intended to reduce the risk of military clashes at sea.

Monday marked the second time within a month that North Korea fired weapons into the maritime buffer zones. It did so on Nov. 3, when around 80 artillery shells landed within North Korea’s side of the zone off its eastern coast.

The JCS added that the South Korean military “is bolstering its readiness in case an emergency arises while tracking and monitoring related trends in close cooperation with the United States.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]