North Korea holds artillery drills near South Korean border island for third straight day
(Baonghean.vn) - A representative of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the North Korean army conducted artillery drills for the third consecutive day on January 7, firing about 90 shells into the waters off the country's west coast near South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island.
According to the JCS, Pyongyang fired artillery shells from 4 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. local time on January 7 toward the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two countries in the Yellow Sea, established under an inter-Korean military agreement signed in 2018 to reduce border tensions.
A JCS official confirmed there were no casualties or damage to South Korean civilians or military personnel, adding that Seoul had no plans to hold retaliatory drills.
South Korea and the United States conducted joint live-fire drills near the border with North Korea to enhance joint combat readiness amid perceived threats from Pyongyang, Yonhap reported on January 4.
After North Korea successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite last November and announced plans to launch several more satellites “in a short period of time,” South Korea partially suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement. In response, Pyongyang announced its decision to restore all military measures, which had been suspended under the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement./.