N. Korea fires more artillery shells into sea in protest of S. Korea-U.S. live-fire drills
北, 해상완충수역에 90여발 포탄 사격 또 한미훈련 트집
Good evening.
Our top story: North Korea has yet again fired artillery shells into the so-called maritime "buffer zones" in waters off its east coast, in protest against the live-fire drills that were conducted throughout the day by forces from South Korea and the U.S.
In response, Seoul's defense ministry issued a strong warning toward the regime, saying that such action can never be tolerated.
Bae Eun-ji has more.
For the second day in a row, North Korea on Tuesday fired artillery shells toward the East Sea.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said a hundred were fired in total.
At around 10 AM, the North started to fire some 90 artillery rounds from Kosong-gun County, and then around 10 more starting 6 PM, from Kumkang County.
The shells landed within the maritime buffer zones set by the inter-Korean military agreement in 2018 to ease military tensions.
The firings are believed to have come from the North's multiple rocket launchers.
Seoul's military said it communicated warnings to the North multiple times, urging it to cease fire and pointing out that such actions are a violation of the 2018 military agreement.
It also added that the military is working closely with the U.S. to monitor related North Korean movements and to strengthen readiness.
Tuesday's firing came as the South Korean military and the U.S. Forces Korea were in their second day of live-fire exercises.
They involved multiple launch rocket systems and were conducted near the inter-Korean border, in Cheorwon-gun County, some 70 kilometers northeast of Seoul.
Earlier in the day, North Korea's military released a statement saying that it ordered the shells to be fired after it detected the South Korean military's firing of artillery near the border.
It demanded that the (quote) "enemy" stop its provocative military actions immediately.
In response, Seoul's defense ministry said the drills are "ordinary exercises," done outside of the military demarcation line.
It added that the regime's repeated firing of shells into sea can never be tolerated, and warned that "all responsibility lies with North Korea" if it continues to violate the 2018 inter-Korean agreement.
Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.