On Wednesday, South Korea criticized North Korea for launching a new artillery barrage into the ocean off its east and west coastlines, directed at a maritime “buffer zone” established in 2018 to ease tensions.
According to Seoul and Washington, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly close to performing what would be his country’s eighth nuclear test.
This has led Pyongyang to increase missile launches and military drills in recent weeks drastically.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said that over 250 rounds were fired late on Tuesday, describing it as a “clear breach” of the 2018 agreement.
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The JCS issued a statement urging North Korea to stop its acts immediately.
It said North Korea’s ongoing provocations “undermine the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community.”
According to Pyongyang, the bombardment launch on Wednesday to thwart the “enemy’s war exercise against the North” near the border.
According to a statement from the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, South Korea’s military “fired hundreds of rounds of multiple rocket launchers in the frontline region… on October 18 from 9:55 to 17:22,” according to the official KCNA news agency.
As a potent military countermeasure, KPA forces on the east and west fronts fired threatening, warning fire toward the east and west seas on October 18.
Last week, the North also launched artillery shells into the military buffer zones.