South Korea holds live-fire drills after North Korean shelling

Asia-Pacific, News January 8, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

South Korean Armed Forces and marine units conducted live-fire drills in response to North Korean artillery shelling attacks toward the South Korean islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeongdo in the Yellow Sea.

The South Korean Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the drills were conducted in response to the North Korean artillery attack. The South Korean military used its K9 self-propelled howitzers to fire shells at the waters.

“The maritime firing exercise is to respond to North Korea’s provocations, where the North Korean military fired artillery shells in a no-hostilities zone,” it read.

On January 5, the North Korean military fired more than 200 artillery shells into waters at the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea between South Korea and North Korea. The North Korean artillery shells did not enter South Korean territory and landed in the buffer zone.

The South Korean Ministry of Defense statement highlighted that the country’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik observed and inspected the maritime drills from a military combat control room.

The South Korean defense minister said, “North Korea resuming its artillery fire drills inside the non-hostility zone this morning is an act of provocation which threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and raises tension.”

Shin Won-sik highlighted that “Our military must assume the readiness to completely wipe out the enemy so that they wouldn’t dare another provocation, and to back up the pace through strength.”

South Korea armored vehicles — ^{Armored vehicles of South Korea and the United States attend a joint exercise held in Pocheon, 46 kilometers northeast of Seoul, in this undated photo provided by the South Korean Army. (Image Credit: Yonhap)}

The South Korean Defense Ministry’s statement added that the country has upgraded its “military readiness and maintained an overwhelming operational response posture using joint firepower, while conducting shooting training by setting a virtual target in the maritime area south of the NLL after North Korea’s provocation.”

Soon after North Korea’s shelling attack, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that no damage to people or the military had been reported, however, stressed that the provocative act “threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and raises tensions”.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during his New Year’s Eve remarks that he had ordered his military to “thoroughly annihilate” South Korea and the United States if they initiate a military confrontation with North Korea.

Kim laid out his military ambitions and plans for the year 2024 as he announced that North Korea will launch three more military spy satellites, produce more nuclear materials, and develop attack drones this year in what observers say is an attempt to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the United States.

*^{North Korean leader Kim Jong Un leads a meeting of the Central Military Commission in Pyongyang, North Korea, on August 9, 2023. (Image Credit: KCNA/via Reuters)}*

In response to Pyongyang’s increasing military threat, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would strengthen his military’s preemptive strike, missile defense, and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said that his country and the United States are working together to strengthen defense capabilities and vowed to “completely block” North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry also released a statement warning North Korea that if any attempts were made to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and U.S. forces would punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government.

In recent months, North Korea has intensified its aggression in reaction to the expansion of military exercises conducted by the U.S. and South Korea. Analysts believe that Kim plans to further elevate both his verbal threats and weapons testing, however, the threat of using nuclear weapons against U.S. or South Korea remains substantially low.