North Korea fires more artillery shells in response to South Korean exercise

North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, reported that in response to South Korea’s ongoing military exercises on the border, North Korea on Tuesday ordered troops to fire more artillery shells into the sea.

KCNA, citing the country’s military spokesman, said North Korea fired 82 artillery shells for more than eight and a half hours on Tuesday, in response and warning to “the enemy’s insidious provocation”.

The South Korean military said North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells.

North Korea on Monday said it had fired more than 130 shells into the sea off its east and west coasts, some of which hit a safe zone near the maritime border between the two Koreas. Seoul said the move violated a 2018 agreement to de-escalate tensions between the countries.

South Korean and US troops have been conducting real ammunition exercises near the border since Monday. Allies say the exercises are necessary to deter North Korea, which has tested a record number of missiles this year and is preparing to resume nuclear tests for the first time since 2017.

Pyongyang harshly criticized the joint exercises as evidence of the hostile policies of Seoul and Washington.

“The enemy must immediately stop provocative military actions in the area near the front lines,” a spokesman for the North Korean army told KCNA.

The spokesman said that in addition to artillery fire, the North Korean military has placed an emergency war alert on units of all levels and has been ordered to increase their vigilance.

South Korea’s Ministry of Defense denied Pyongyang’s comments.

“North Korea’s unfair criticism of the normal education between South Korea and the United States is never acceptable,” the statement said on Tuesday.

*Reported by Josh Smith, Soo-hyang Choi, and Joyce Lee.