200 artillery shells fired by North Korea near South Korean islands prompt a severe warning from Seoul

Seoul’s defense ministry said that North Korea launched more than 200 artillery projectiles Friday close to two South Korean islands, threatening the calm on the Korean peninsula.

Kim Jong Un repeatedly warned that North Korea was ready for war against South Korea and the United States, and this was followed by the live fire. In one of the most significant military confrontations between the two since the North launched a volley of shells at one of the islands in 2010, people on the two islands were told to leave after artillery rounds were fired.

The Korean Peninsula’s peace is threatened by this provocative behavior, according to a statement from the South Korean Defense Ministry. Yonhap cited the ministry as saying, “We sternly warn that North Korea bears full responsibility for this escalating crisis and strongly urge them to cease these actions immediately.” “In close cooperation with the United States, our military keeps a close eye on the situation and will respond appropriately to any provocations from North Korea.”

ORDERS FOR EVACUATION
Yeonpyeong Island in South Korea is located in the Yellow Sea. It is situated 12 kilometers south of the Hwanghae Province’s shoreline in North Korea and about 80 kilometers west of Incheon. Authorities on Baengnyeong Island reportedly issued an evacuation order there as well, according to news sources.

After Kim test-fired several highly sophisticated intercontinental ballistic missiles and cemented the nation’s nuclear power status in the constitution, ties between the two Koreas are at an all-time low. Kim demanded that the nation’s military arsenal be increased ahead of a confrontation that he said may “break out at any time” and threatened to launch a nuclear strike on the South during Pyongyang’s crucial year-end policy talks.

According to the official media agency KCNA, Kim ordered his armed forces to preserve the “overwhelming war response capability” and accused the US of presenting “various forms of military threat.” A “fait accompli that a war may break out on the Korean peninsula at any time due to the enemies’ reckless moves for invading the DPRK” was the meeting’s conclusion, according to KCNA.

In the meanwhile, the US conducted long-range bomber exercises with Seoul and Tokyo late last year and stationed a nuclear-powered submarine in the South Korean port city of Busan. In joint exercises on the Korean peninsula, the North has referred to the use of Washington’s strategic weapons, including B-52 bombers, as “intentional nuclear war provocative moves.”