North Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, one of which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has condemned as a “territorial invasion”, very close to South Korean territorial waters.
Initially, the South Korean Army stated that Pyongyang fired 10 missiles and then gradually fired 13 other missiles.
North Korea also fired 100 artillery shells at a maritime border area, which experts see as part of Pyongyang’s “offensive and threatening” response to US and South Korean military exercises.
This burst of gunfire prompted South Korean authorities to issue a rare air raid warning on the island of Ulleungdo (east) and ask residents to take shelter in underground bunkers.
According to the South Korean military, one of the shells fired by Pyongyang crossed the northern demarcation line, the disputed maritime border between the two countries, and landed near southern territorial waters.
He said it was the “first time since the division of the peninsula” at the end of the Korean War in 1953 that a North Korean missile had landed so close to southern territorial waters.
The South Korean president assured that the incident “constituted a de facto invasion of territory by a missile that crossed the northern border line for the first time since partition”.
The military said the closest missile fell into the sea just 57 kilometers off the South Korean mainland and described the launch as “extremely unusual and unbearable”.
In response to these actions, the South Korean military fired three surface-to-air missiles near the point where the disputed North Korean shell landed.
According to the statement, these missiles landed “close to the northern border line at a distance corresponding to the area hit by the missile coming from the north.”
The South Korean military reported that Pyongyang fired a total of 16 other missiles, including seven short-range ballistic missiles and six surface-to-air missiles.
The South Korean president called a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the incident and ordered a “quick and violent response” to these “provocations”.
The country’s officials also canceled airlines over the Sea of Japan east of the peninsula and recommended that local airlines divert their planes to “ensure the safety of passengers on routes to the United States and Japan.”
“Careful Storm”
The firing came amid South Korea and the United States’ largest joint maneuver called the “Storm Watcher”, which involved hundreds of warplanes from both sides.
Pak Jong Chon, a senior North Korean official, described these exercises as offensive and provocative, according to state media.
Pak said the name of the exercise is reminiscent of Operation Desert Storm, the 1990-1991 US offensive in Iraq in response to the invasion of Kuwait.
“If the United States and South Korea fearlessly plan to use their armed forces against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the special assets of the North Korean armed forces will promptly mobilize their strategic missions.”
“The United States and South Korea will face a terrible situation and pay the most horrific price in history,” he said.
Russia, on the other hand, called on the parties to remain “calm” and “avoid measures that could increase tensions”.
According to analyst Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, these shootings are “the most aggressive and menacing armed demonstration against the South since 2010”.
In March of that year, a North Korean submarine torpedoed a South Korean ship, killing 46 crew members, 16 of whom were serving mandatory military service.
In November of the same year, Pyongyang bombed the South Korean border island, killing two young sailors.
The isolated communist country with nuclear capability has conducted a record series of weapons tests this year and is preparing a new nuclear test, the first since 2017, according to Seoul and Washington.
In response, the United States and South Korea intensified their military maneuvers in the region, where Japan occasionally participates.
source: Noticias
