On Friday, Seoul ordered the evacuation of residents from Yeonpyeong and Baengneung islands near North Korea after Pyongyang fired about 200 artillery shells off its western coast.
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A Defense Ministry official said: “The North Korean army fired more than 200 shots today between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. in the areas of Gangsan-gut in the north of Bingyeong Island and in the north… Yeonpyeong.” .
Residents of these two South Korean border islands, located in the Yellow Sea, have been asked to evacuate, according to local officials. The authorities on Yeonpyeong Island announced to Agence France-Presse that the evacuation order was issued as a “precautionary measure.”
“We are making evacuation announcements at the moment,” a local official on Bingneung Island said, adding that he was aware of the upcoming South Korean military naval exercise.
Following the artillery shelling of Pyongyang, South Korea denounced the “provocative act”, urged its neighbor to put an end to it and warned that it would respond with “appropriate” measures.
“We strongly warn that North Korea bears full responsibility for this escalation of the crisis and urge it to immediately stop these actions,” the South Korean Defense Ministry wrote in a statement. He added: “Our army is closely monitoring the situation and monitoring it in close coordination with the United States.”
In 2010, Pyongyang actually fired 170 artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island, killing four people, including two civilians, in the first North Korean attack against civilians since the Korean War (1950-1953).
“An ongoing and uncontrollable crisis”
The two Koreas began a process of rapprochement in 2018, marked by three meetings between Kim Jong Un and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
But inter-Korean relations deteriorated to their lowest levels this year after Pyongyang launched a spy satellite, prompting Seoul to partially suspend a 2018 military agreement aimed at defusing tensions.
At the end of a meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea at the end of last December, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a “war” that could be “launched at any time.” Moment” on the peninsula.
In a lengthy speech, he also accused the United States of “various types of military threats” and ordered its armed forces to maintain an “overwhelming military response capability.”
At the party meeting, the leader said he no longer seeks reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, citing the “continuous and uncontrollable crisis situation” that he said was sparked by Seoul and Washington.
In 2023, North Korea conducted a record number of ballistic missile tests, in violation of several UN resolutions prohibiting them.
The country also engraved its status as a nuclear power into its constitution, and successfully tested the Hwasong-18, the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile in its arsenal, capable of reaching the United States.
