JAKARTA - North Korea on Friday fired about 170 artillery fire into the maritime buffer zone set under an agreement to reduce inter-Korean military tensions in 2018, in addition to firing short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea, the South Korean military said.
The provocative move comes after more than 10 North Korean warplanes made threatening flights near the inter-Korean border, prompting the South Korean Air Force to deploy F-35A stealth fighters and other assets to the scene, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (JCS).
JCS said it detected the SRBM launch from the Sunan area of Pyongyang at 1:49 a.m., and that the missile flew about 700 kilometers at a peak of 50 km at its highest speed around Mach 6.
JCS also detected about 130 artillery fire by North Korea into the Yellow Sea from Majang-dong, Hwanghae Province, between 1:25 a.m. And, about 40 artillery fire into the East Sea from Gueup-ri, Gangwon Province, between 2:57 a.m. and 3:07 a.m.
Artillery fire landed in the eastern and western buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line, the inter-Korean de facto sea border, described under Korea's second Comprehensive Military Treaty (CMA) signed on September 19, 2018, to ease tensions.
The North Korean People's Army later said through state media that they were taking "strong countermeasures" in response to what South Korean artillery exercises claimed for 10 hours.
Seoul officials said the artillery exercise was carried out by US Korean troops at a firing ground in Cheorwon, about 71 km northeast of Seoul, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, involving several rocket launch systems (MLRS).
The JCS issued a statement criticizing the firing of artillery and the launch of the SRBM as a clear violation of the CMA resolutions and the UN Security Council.
"Our military is seriously warning North Korea about the fact that it has violated the September 19 military agreement and stepped up military tensions on the Korean Peninsula through continued provocations, and urged it to immediately stop it," the JCS reported.
JCS added, "Our military will continue to maintain a strong preparedness posture based on its ability, to respond to any provocations of North Korea."
Regarding Friday's provocation, the Seoul defense ministry sent a message to Pyongyang via western military communications, officials said.
"We sent a message to show that firing artillery in the western and eastern maritime buffer zones was a violation of the September 19 military agreement, and to urge (North Korea) to comply and prevent it from happening again," the official stressed.
The shooting in two separate buffer zones was North Korea's third and fourth violation of the CMA, after previously in 2020 and 2019.
The CMA's latest breach comes amid growing talks about the need to consider canceling the agreement if North Korea continues to advance with what will be its seventh nuclear test.
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