A day after raising the possibility of further nuclear tests, North Korea has engaged in provocative live-fire exercises near the South Korean maritime border, leading to an exchange of fire between the neighbors.
The semiofficial South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Monday that the North had begun the drill just after noon. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that some North Korean ordnance landed in South Korean waters and that the South responded with fire.
North Korea fired about 500 artillery shells into waters north of the Yellow Sea's so-called Northern Limit Line over a roughly three-hour period Monday afternoon, the Joint Chiefs told Yonhap. After about 100 shells fell south of the Northern Limit Line, South Korea responded by firing about 300 artillery shells into North Korean waters and dispatching fighter jets near the Northern Limit Line.
The Joint Chiefs said the North Korean offshore military exercise began about 12:15 p.m. Monday and said that "a part of North Korea's shelling reached South Korean side of the NLL and (South Korea) responded with K-9 self-propelled guns into the North Korean waters above NLL."
The statement is in line with Yonhap's report that the North fired "several" artillery shells, to which the South Korean military responded with self-propelled artillery fire. The South Korean K9 howitzers have a 24-mile (40-kilometer) range.
Although there was a lull, North Korean offshore firing seems to have resumed, with Yonhap quoting a resident of Baekryong Island, which is close to the Northern Limit Line.
"Some (North Korean) artillery fire landed in (the) southern part of Northern Limit Line but in the water," a South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesman said. "We counter-fired over the Northern Limit Line."
When asked what South Korea fired back at, the defense spokesman said, "We are not shooting at North Korea, just shooting into the sea."
The spokesman declined to say where South Korea is firing from and whether the exchange is still ongoing. The official also refused to confirm whether civilians are being evacuated or put into shelters on the front-line islands.
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