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| North Korea Fires 250 Artillery Shells |
Pyongyang - North Korea fired artillery shells off its east and west coasts on Tuesday (18/10/2022). This step was taken by North Korea as a form of serious warning to the United States and South Korea.
"North Korea fired about 100 shells into the sea off its west coast at around 10 p.m. local time and fired another 150 rounds off its east coast," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement Wednesday.
"We strongly urge North Korea to immediately stop its actions," the JCS said in a statement carried by Yonhap. "North Korea's continued provocations are acts that undermine the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community," he added.
North Korea's latest military activity comes after South Korean forces began their annual Hoguk defense drill earlier this week, designed to increase their ability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
The drills, which will conclude on Saturday (10/22/2022), are the latest in a series of military exercises by South Korea in recent weeks, including joint activities with the US and Japan. North Korea said it fired artillery fire as a "serious warning" of South Korea's military drills.
In a statement, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said the North's military fired "threats and warnings" as a "strong military countermeasure" against South Korean military exercises.
The spokesman also called on South Korea to immediately stop the "reckless and inciting provocations" that have increased military tensions on the peninsula, according to an English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
An unnamed KPA official said the move was made in response to a series of "military provocative actions by the enemy," citing ongoing Hoguk military exercises in the South.
Last week, North Korea fired hundreds of artillery fire into maritime buffer zones in the East and Yellow Seas established under the 2018 inter-Korean agreement to reduce military tensions. South Korea called North Korea's provocations a clear violation of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.