North Korea fires 90 shells toward South for third straight day

Kim Yo-jung, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claims that the firing on Saturday was a deception tactic to monitor the South Korean surveillance capabilities.

Gun ports on the Jangjae Island, North Korea, viewed from South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island are visibly opened on Sunday. North Korea fired artillery shells for two days near the Northern Limit Lines. [YONHAP]

North Korea on Sunday fired artillery shells near Yeonpyeong Island for the third consecutive day, according to the South Korean military.

North Korea fired some 90 shots near the island around 4 p.m., the same time it reportedly launched 60 shells on Saturday.

The South Korean military reported that the shells had not crossed the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two Koreas.

However, warnings of caution have been issued, with Ongjin County in Incheon, a group of small islands bordering North Korea, advising residents to stay indoors.

The recent provocations from North Korea since Friday come ahead of its leader Kim Jong-un’s 40th birthday on Monday.

However, unlike the artillery shells it fired on Friday, North Korea denied firing the shells on Saturday.

Kim Yo-jung, the sister of Kim Jong-un, claimed on Sunday that the 60 artillery shells that the South Korean military accused them of firing on Saturday were, in fact, just sounds of explosives.

In a statement released by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jung said no actual shells were fired and explained that the sounds were created to simulate the firing of its 130-millimeter coastal guns.

The exercise was aimed at monitoring the surveillance capabilities of the South Korean military.

She said that it was a deceptive tactic intended to embarrass the South Koreans, whose reaction was deemed overly conspicuous.

"The South Korean military had taken the bait," she said.

Kim argued that none of the shells fell in the buffer zones on Saturday, contrary to the claim made by the South Korean military.

She also criticized the South Korean military, describing them as cowardly and easily spooked by their own shadows.

Kim argued that the South Korean principle of responding immediately, overwhelmingly and tenaciously, would actually result in immediate, forced and ultimate death.

A K-9 self-propelled howitzers fire shots from Baengnyeong Island on Friday in response to North Korea firing artillery shells earlier in the day. [MIINSTRY OF DEFENSE]

Unlike Sunday’s statement, North Korea on Friday admitted to having launched 192 artillery shells near the South's islands.

“On the ratification of the General Staff of the KPA [Korean People’s Army], the sub-units in charge of the southwestern coastal defense under the 4th Corps of the KPA stage a naval live-shell firing drill into five districts with 192 shells by mobilizing 47 cannons of various calibers of the 13 companies and 1 platoon force between 9 a.m. to 11 a.mn. Jan. 5,” the KCNA reported in English on Friday.

The KCNA, however, rejected the South Korean military's claim that the artillery shells threatened the safety of the South Korean islands as far-fetched and accused it of misleading the public.

North Korea has insisted that the naval artillery shell launches were part of routine military exercises and posed no threat to the South's two islands situated near North Korea.

The artillery shells fired on Friday landed as close as 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) north of the NLL, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Sunday.

North Korea reportedly fired artillery shells from Jangsan Cape, located only 15 kilometers from the South's Baengnyeong Island, as well as from Deungsan Cape, approximately 18 kilometers away from the South's Yeonpyeong Island on Friday.

After evacuating the islanders to shelters, the South Korean military retaliated by firing 400 shells, twice the number launched by North Korea, in a clear warning against further provocation.

“Evacuation and firing in return are also a trite method to throw the responsibility for the escalating tension of the KPA’s drill,” the KCNA reported.

On Saturday, North Korea unleashed around 60 rounds of shells in the West Sea between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

The South Korean JCS issued a stern warning that the act of launching artillery constitutes a direct threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula, escalating tensions.

“We strongly urge [North Korea] to cease immediately,” the JCS said in the statement.

Concerned about North Korea's actions in the first week of the New Year, the Incheon city government held an emergency meeting on Sunday to review the warning system and shelters for residents, especially those on the six islands near the North Korean border.

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok emphasized the need to inspect the shelters to ensure residents can respond swiftly in the case of an emergency.

"We have to do our best in setting up an alarm system so that residents won't feel threatened," Yoo said.

There are approximately 8,500 people, including soldiers stationed in military bases, on the six islands, with 2,100 on Yeonpyeong Island and 4,900 on Baengnyeong Island.

Woodo Island is a civilian-controlled zone.

Yeonpyeong Island suffered more than 20 casualties, including four fatalities, from a shelling from North Korea in 2010.

The South's Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho claimed that the recent escalation in rhetoric from North Korea, including the recent provocations, is aimed at diverting the growing frustration within North Korea.

"It seems that [North Korea] is attempting to redirect the focus of the growing internal grievances, related to economic difficulties and power succession, toward external factors," the unification minister said Saturday while appearing on a live TV show.

"North Korea is currently grappling with economic hardships and is confronted with chronic food shortages," he added.

Citing interviews with defectors, the unification minister also highlighted a growing frustration within North Korea regarding leader Kim Jong-un and the perpetuation of power within the ruling family.

Kim Jong-un vehemently criticized the South Korean government at the end of last year and ordered his troops to be on standby at all times.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]