“From 5:30 p.m. for 3 minutes, (the North) fired some 10 shells into waters near the Northern Limit Line off Bangnyeong Island. And then, between 5:52 p.m. and 6:14 p.m., some 120 shots were fired into the waters near Yeonpyeong Island,” said a military official.
“The Navy has strengthened its vigilance and readiness posture.”
The fired shells did not land in waters south of the NLL, a de facto sea border, and no damages were inflicted on the South, the official said.
The volley of the artillery fire came after the South Korean military finished its five-day maritime maneuvers in the West Sea, which were designed to enhance its defense capabilities against North Korean provocations.
The North has repeatedly warned of “physical action” against the drills, which followed the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise conducted late last month in the East Sea in a show of force against the communist state.
Tensions have run high since the March sinking of the corvette Cheonan, which Seoul holds Pyongyang responsible for. The North has so far denied any role in the incident that caused the deaths of 46 sailors.
The North is reluctant to recognize the NLL on the grounds that it was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas remain technically at war as the war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldm.com)
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