North Korean chief Kim Jong Un visits Korean Individuals’s Military Air Power headquarters on the event of Aviation Day in North Korea, on this image launched by North Korea’s Korean Central Information Company (KCNA) on December 1, 2023.
KCNA | Reuters
South Korea has reportedly ordered civilians on the border island of Yeonpyeong to maneuver to shelters after North Korea fired 200 artillery shells into the ocean close to the island, native information media reported Friday.
“We announced the evacuation after receiving a call from a military unit saying it was carrying out a maritime strike on Yeongpyeong Island as it has a situation with a North Korean provocation,” an official advised Yonhap Information. The emergency evacuation order was issued at 12:02 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. native time on Friday, the report mentioned.
Individually, Chosun Ilbo cited South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers Public Affairs Workplace, Lee Seong-jun as saying: “The North Korean military fired more than 200 rounds from around 9:00 to 11:00 today in the area of Cape Jangsan, north of Baengnyeong Island, and Cape Sansan, north of Yeonpyeong Island.”
In response, the South Korean marine corps requested the evacuation of residents of Yeonpyeong and scheduled a “maritime shooting exercise” for the afternoon, Chosun Ilbo reported.
The official added that almost all residents have gone to the shelters, and that the top time for the evacuation train not but been decided.
The Chosun Ilbo added: “It is known that the Marine Corps’ maritime shooting training was a response to this,” referring the to North Korean firing.
Yeonpyeong Island is shut to what’s referred to as the “Northern Limit Line,” the de facto maritime border that separates the 2 Koreas. Not one of the shells fired on Friday crossed the NLL, Reuters mentioned.
In a serious escalation of tensions in November 2010, the island was bombarded by North Korean artillery, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. No less than 18 individuals had been injured at the moment, and greater than 100 buildings broken.
On the time, then United Nations secretary normal Ban Ki-moon known as it one of many “gravest incidents” for the reason that Korean Battle.
North Korea and South Korea are formally nonetheless at conflict, because the Korean Battle in 1953 ended with an armistice and never a proper peace treaty.