North Korea announced on Monday that it had launched 130 artillery shells into the sea as a warning to South Korea in response to the country’s military drills with the United States.
The shells were fired off North Korea’s east and west coasts, some of them into a neutral zone between the two nations’ sea border. South Korea described the provocation as a violation of the 2018 inter-Korean agreement, NBC News reported.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense slammed North Korea for the shelling, sending them several warning messages, the ministry said in a statement.
According to North Korea state news agency KNCA, a spokesperson of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said that the North retaliated after discovering “projectiles” fired by the South near the shared border. He said: “The enemy should immediately cease military actions that cause escalation of tensions in areas near the front lines where visual surveillance is possible.”
“We sternly warn the enemy not to stir up unnecessary escalation of tension along the front lines,” the spokesperson added.
The joint military exercise by South Korea and the US was a joint land-based firing drill that is continuing into Tuesday.