North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands on Friday, prompting evacuation orders for their residents, Seoul’s defence ministry and local officials said.
The live firing follows repeated warnings from Kim Jong Un’s regime in Pyongyang that it is prepared for war against South Korea and its US ally.
“The North Korean military conducted over 200 rounds of firing today from around 09:00 to 11:00 (1200 to 0200 GMT) in the areas of Jangsan-got in the northern part of Baengnyeong Island and the northern areas… of Yeonpyeong Island,” a defence ministry official said at a briefing.
Yeonpyeong local officials told AFP that civilians had been told to evacuate, describing the order as a “preventative measure”.
South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island is situated in the Yellow Sea. It is located approximately 80 kilometres west of Incheon and 12 kilometres south of the coastline of Hwanghae Province, North Korea.
Authorities on Baengnyeong Island also reported an evacuation order there.
We are making the evacuation announcements at the moment,” a local district official at the Baengnyeong Island told AFP, adding that he had been told the South Korean military would conduct a naval drill shortly.
Pyongyang fired a barrage of 170 artillery shells onto Yeonpyeong island in November 2010, killing four people including two civilians in the first North Korean attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
In 2023, the North successfully launched a reconnaissance satellite, after receiving what Seoul claimed was help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers for Ukraine.
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