South Korea says North Korea fired 130 artillery shells in latest drill, some landed in buffer zone

© Provided by Firstpost South Korea says North Korea fired 130 artillery shells in latest drill, some landed in buffer zone

SEOUL: South Korean Military on Monday said North Korea fired around 130 artillery shells into the sea off its east and west coasts as part of the latest apparent military drill by Pyongyang near their shared border.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons fell within the northern side of buffer zones created under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement to reduce military tensions. There were no immediate reports of shells falling inside South Korean territorial waters, say reports.

It was not immediately clear when the incident occurred, and further details were not provided.

South Korea’s military said it communicated a verbal warning to North Korea over the firings and urged it to abide by the agreement.

North Korea did not immediately report on the artillery fire, but it has been carrying out an increasing number of military activities, including missile launches and drills by warplanes and artillery units that it said were

responses to allied exercises in the South.

South Korea and the United States were conducting a joint land-based firing drill near the border in Cheorwon County in the middle of the peninsula on Monday. Their drill will continue on Tuesday.

The allies have stepped up joint military exercises this year, saying they are necessary to deter the nuclear-armed North.

The 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA) was the most substantive deal to come from the months of meetings between leader Kim Jong Un and then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

With those talks long stalled, however, recent drills and shows of force along the fortified border between the Koreas have cast doubts on the future of the measures.

South Korea has accused the North of repeatedly violating the agreement with artillery drills this year, including one day in mid-October when more than 500 rounds were fired into the sea.

This year North Korea resumed testing of its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the first time since 2017, and South Korea and the United States say it has made preparations to resume nuclear testing as well.

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