South Korean Marines Conduct Exercise After North Korea Shells Maritime Buffer Zone
South Korean marines stationed on islands near its maritime border with North Korea conducted live fire drills on Friday, after North Korean artillery shelled a nearby maritime buffer zone earlier in the day.
According to the South Korean defense ministry, the exercise started at 3PM local time, with K9 self-propelled howitzers and tanks stationed on Yeonpyeong Island firing 400 shells into a simulated target at sea, south of the Northern Limit Line that demarcates the two Korea’s maritime borders. The ministry added that no “unusual activity” from North Korean forces was observed during the exercise.
South Korean defense minister Shin Won-sik and South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff observed the exercise via a livestream from the command center of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps’ Northwest Island Defense Command, the unit conducting the exercise.
The exercise followed North Korean shelling of a buffer zone along the northern edge of the Northern Limit Line, which resulted in South Korean authorities ordering civilians on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong Island to evacuate to shelters on the islands. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says that North Korean shelling between 9 and 11AM resulted in over 200 shells landing inside the buffer zone, with no damage to civilian or military personnel or property reported.
The buffer zone was created in 2018 as part of an inter-Korean military agreement signed in September that year to reduce tensions on the peninsula. However, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in November, after South Korea announced that it would be suspending it in response to North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite.
In a defense ministry statement, Shin denounced the North Korean shelling as a “provocative act that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and escalates tensions”. He warned that North Korean “provocations” would be met with an “immediate, overwhelming and decisive” response to prevent any recurrences.