N.Korea continues to fire artillery amid simmering tensions
(VOVWORLD) -North Korea on Tuesday fired around 100 artillery shells toward the inter-Korean maritime buffer zone in a tit-for-tat action against South Korea and US live-fire drills staged near the border, further escalating tensions on the peninsula.
 A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea millitary exercises during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul (Photo: AP) |
Around 90 artillery shots were fired from the area of Kosong County in Kangwon Province toward buffer zones in the East Sea from 10:00 a.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed, adding the artillery firing continued until the afternoon. The North Korean military fired an additional 10 artillery shells from Kumgang County in Kangwon Province toward eastern maritime buffer zones from 6:00 p.m.
Under a comprehensive military agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018, the two Koreas agreed to cease all live-fire and maritime maneuver exercises in buffer zones.
The North Korean military on Tuesday confirmed that its artillery firing was in response to the combined live-fire drills in a Korean-language statement issued by an unnamed spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army.