North Korea says live-fire drills 'natural response' to South Korea threats
An artillery fire competition between the artillery units of North Korean army
North Korea on Friday (Jan 5) said that it had carried out naval artillery live-fire exercises as a "natural response and countermeasure" to South Korean drills, condemning Seoul's claim that it had threatened peace on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported.
Pyongyang's drills did "not even have any indirect impact on Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island", where residents were told to evacuate by local authorities, according to KCNA's report.
South Korea had on Friday told civilians on Yeonpyeong Island, located about 115km east of Seoul in terms of aerial distance,to evacuate after North Korea fired around 200 artillery shells off its west coast.
"About 200 shots were fired by North Korea (near) Yeonpyeong Island," a defence ministry official said at a briefing.
Yeonpyeong local officials told news agency AFP that civilians had been asked to evacuate.
Hours later, South Korean defence ministry described it as a"provocative act" and urged North to stop, warning Seoul would take "appropriate measures" in response.
The shells reportedly splashed into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border between both Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
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The buffer zone was set under an inter-Korean military accord signed on Sept19, 2018, to reduce border tensions.
"We gravely warn that the entire responsibility of such crisis-escalating situations lies with North Korea and strongly urge for its immediate halt," JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said in a press conference.
"Under close coordination between South Korea and the United States, our military is tracking and monitoring related activity, and will conduct corresponding measures to North Korea's provocations."
South Korea stages live-fire drills on border island
South Korean marines on the border island of Yeonpyeong conducted live-fire artillery drills on Friday (Jan 5), as per the Yonhap news agency reports.
This came hours after North Korea staged an artillery barrage in the area.
The troops held "live-fire artillery drills with K9 self-propelled howitzers," Yonhap said, the first such drills in the area since both countries dropped a military accord in November.
(With inputs from agencies)