The South Korean military reported this Friday: live fire maneuvers to artillery tests recently carried out by North Korea In the Yellow Sea that caused Seoul to order evacuation of two border islands.
The South Korean military released this Friday Evacuation orders for Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islandslocated off the coast of North Korea in the Yellow Sea after Pyongyang fired approximately 200 artillery shells into nearby areas, causing no harm to the population.
“The North Korean military fired more than 200 shells in the Jangsan Cape area, north of Baengnyeong Island, between 09:00 and 11:00 (0:00 and 2:00 GMT) today, Friday, January 5, and the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) ) said in a statement sent to the media that Cape Sanseong is located in the north of Yeonpyeong Island.
“There was no harm to civilians or military. and the point of impact is located north of the NLL” refers to the text, which refers to the abbreviation for the Northern Demarcation Line, a line separating the Yellow Sea (called the Western Sea in the two Koreas) that Pyongyang rejects and has been involved in numerous fights It was the scene. The North’s bombing of Yeonpyeong in 2010, which claimed the lives of four southerners.
An official from Yeongpyeong City Hall, where about 1,700 people live, told Yonha news agency: Two evacuation orders were issued, at 12:02 and 12:30 local time (3:02 and 3:30 GMT), by the decision of a military unit that cited “North Korean provocations”. Yonha also confirmed that about 4,000 residents of Baengnyeong, South Korea’s westernmost island, have been ordered to move into shelters.
On November 23, 2010 Some live-fire maneuvers by the South Korean navy near Yeonpyeong, located 115 kilometers west of Seoul and just 10 kilometers from the North Korean coast, were responded to by dozens of artillery shells fired at that island by the North. Many buildings were destroyed in the incident, and in addition to the four deaths mentioned, 18 people were injured.
Designed by the United Nations to prevent new conflicts NLL was rejected by North Korea after the armistice ending the Korean War was signed in 1953He argues that the division should be further south.
Clashes around the NLL between the militaries of the two Koreas, which are technically still at war because the aforementioned ceasefire has not been replaced by a peace agreement, have resulted in more than 50 deaths, mostly military, on both sides in the last 20 years. .years.
It was the same in that region Sunk by North Korean torpedo Southern corvette ROKS Cheonan and 46 of her crew lost their lives.
The episode shows: renewed rise in military tensions There has been tension between the two Koreas after Pyongyang announced in November that it was suspending a 2018 bilateral military agreement aimed at reducing tensions in border areas and banning live-fire maneuvers around the division, among other things.