CNorth Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, including one very close to territorial waters South Korea, whose president Yoon Suk-yeol denounced it as a “de facto territorial invasion”.
Las South Korean armed forces they initially reported that Pyongyang fired 10 missiles, then gradually released the other 13 launches.
The North also fired a hundred artillery shells at the maritime border area, in what experts say is part of the North’s “aggressive and threatening” response. Pyongyang to military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea.
The flurry of gunfire prompted South Korean authorities to issue a rare airstrike warning on Ulleungdo Island and ask its residents to take shelter in underground bunkers.
According to the South Korean military, one of the missiles launched by Pyongyang crossed the Northern Limit Line, the disputed maritime border between the two countries, and landed near the South’s territorial waters.
As indicated, it is “The first time since the peninsula was divided”in the end Korean War 1953for a North Korean missile to land so close to the South’s territorial waters.
In a statement, the South Korean president assured that this is “represents a de facto territorial invasion with a missile crossing the northern boundary line for the first time since partition” of the peninsula in 1953.
The army said The nearest missile fell into the sea only 57 kilometers away in the east of the countrymainland South Korea thorium, and described this release as “very unusual and intolerable”.
South Korea responds
In response to these actions, the South Korean military fired three air-to-surface missiles near the point where the controversial North Korean missile landed.
These rockets fell “near the northern boundary line at a distance corresponding to the area where the North missile hit”, he said in a statement.
South Korea’s military said Pyongyang fired a total of seven short-range ballistic missiles and 16 other missiles, including six surface-to-air.
The South Korean president called his meeting National Security Council to analyze the recording, and ordered a “quick and sharp reaction” to these “provocations”.
The country’s authorities too canceled air routes over the Sea of Japan, east of the peninsulaand recommended that local airlines redirect “guaranteeing the safety of passengers on routes to the United States.” United States and Japan.
Guardian of the storm
These shots come in the midst of the biggest joint maneuvers he has ever conducted South Korea and the United States, baptized “Storm Watcher” including hundreds of warplanes from both sides.
Pak Jong Chon, senior officer North Korea, said the exercises were aggressive and provocative, according to a state media report on Wednesday.
Puck said the name of the maneuver reminiscent of Operation Desert StormAmerican offensive on Iraq in 1990-1991. in response to the invasion of Kuwait.
“AND United States and South Korea intend to use the armed forces against Democratic People’s Republic of Korea without fear, the special assets of the armed forces of the DPRK will deploy their strategic mission without delay”, He said.
“United States and South Korea they will face a terrible situation and they will pay the most terrible price in history,” he added.
At the same time, Russia called on the parties to “calm down” and asked them to avoid “to take measures that may cause an increase in tension.”
According to analyst Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, these recordings are “The most aggressive and threatening armed protest against the South since 2010.”
What happened to the Koreas in 2010?
In March of that year, a North Korean submarine torpedoed a South Korean ship, killing 46 crew members, 16 of whom were conscripts. In November of the same year Pyongyang bombed a South Korean border island, killing two young sailors.
The isolated communist country, endowed with nuclear capabilities, carried out a record series of weapons tests this year and, according to Seoul and Washington, is preparing a new nuclear test, which would be the first after 2017.
from your side, United States and South Korea intensified their military maneuvers in that area, to which it is sometimes added Japan. The current air exercises were preceded by 12-day amphibious naval exercises.