South Korean Marines fired artillery shells across a disputed sea border Monday after North Korean shells from a live fire drill conducted by Pyongyang
North Korea declared a no-sail warning on Monday for areas off its west coast near a disputed border with South Korea and has notified the South that it will conduct firing drills, a South Korean government official said.
The area is near the so-called Northern Limit Line, drawn up at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which the North has refused to recognize. Past clashes between the two navies in the area killed scores of sailors on both sides.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said “several rounds” of North Korean shells landed south of the Northern Limit Line.
In response, South Korea’s military shot “dozens of artillery shells with K-9 self-propelled howitzers” and dispatched F-15K fighter jets.
In November 2010, North Korea fired shells at the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two civilians.
The standoff marks the latest incident in a long line of conflict arising from the a sea border bitterly contested by the rivals in one of the world’s most heavily armed regions, with about 1.8 million soldiers.
Nokor may conduct multiple nuclear tests
Arirang News reported that there appears to be physical evidence North Korea is also readying for another series of nuclear tests at its Punggye-ri test site.
38 North, a website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said recent tunnel excavation patterns show North Korea could be preparing to carry out two or more tests soon.
Recent satellite imagery shows the mountains north and south of the site have been excavated into complexes that could allow multiple tests.
(with a report from Reuters, AP, Arirang, DW)