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South Korea returns fire after North Korean shells land in disputed waters South Korea returns fire after North Korean shells land in disputed waters
(about 1 hour later)
South Korea on Monday returned fire into North Korean waters after shells from a North Korean live-fire drill fell south of the rivals' disputed western sea boundary, a South Korean military official said. South Korean islanders fled to shelters as their country’s forces returned the North’s fire near a disputed sea boundary on Monday, amid renewed tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Residents on a nearby South-controlled island were evacuated to shelters as a precaution. The skirmish in the Yellow or Western Sea came a day after Pyongyang warned that it could carry out a “new kind” of nuclear test , and followed multiple missile tests by the North. Experts have also warned that it could be harder to predict the country’s actions given the recent political turbulence which saw its youthful leader Kim Jong-un purge his uncle Jang Song-taek.
No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, an official with South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said. No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, an official with South Korea's joint chiefs of staff told Associated Press. Unusually, the North warned in advance that it planned to hold a live-fire drill; when a shell landed south of the disputed boundary, the South, which had warned it would respond, returned fire into North Korean waters.
Kang Myeong-sung, speaking from a shelter on Baengnyeong island, which is in sight of North Korean territory, said that anxious islanders were huddled together in shelters. Tensions are common at this time of year because of the North’s anger at annual joint military exercises by the South and the US, but the exchange of fire was the most dramatic incident near the northern limit line since 2010.
Kang said he didn't see any fighter jets, but he could hear the boom of artillery fire. In 2010, North Korean artillery killed four South Koreans on Baengnyeong. The South scrambled F-15 fighters to patrol its side of the border and authorities evacuated the residents of five frontline islands to shelters. Kang Myeong-sung, a resident speaking to AP from a shelter on Yeonpyeong, said he did not see any fighter jets, but he could hear the boom of artillery fire. In 2010, North Korean artillery killed four South Koreans on Yeonpyeong; Pyongyang said it was responding to the South’s exercises.
The exchange of fire followed Pyongyang's earlier, unusual announcement that it would conduct the drills, a move seen as an expression of Pyongyang's frustration at making little progress in its recent push to win outside aid. “This is right between normal springtime tensions and something just slipping out of control,” said John Delury, an expert on the North, at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The North in recent weeks has increased threatening rhetoric and conducted a series of rocket and ballistic missile launches that are considered acts of protest against annual ongoing springtime military exercises by Seoul and Washington. The North calls the South Korea-U.S. drills a rehearsal for invasion; the allies say they're routine and defensive. “Short-range missile tests are common – but not as many as they have done in the last few weeks. Medium-range ones pushed that further, sparking the United Nations security council condemnation. And then North Korea said ‘Okay, we could do a fourth nuclear test’. If that happens, it starts its own chain of reaction.”
Pyongyang threatened Sunday to conduct a fourth nuclear test at some point, though Seoul says there are no signs of an imminent detonation. Last spring saw an increasingly fraught situation on the peninsula, as the North ratcheted up its threats following criticism of its third nuclear test in February, issuing warnings of nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington.
After the North's earlier announcement Monday that it would conduct firing drills in seven areas north of the sea boundary, South Korea responded that it would strongly react if provoked. Cheng Xiaohe, of the school of international studies at Renmin University, said he did not believe Monday’s incident would escalate into large-scale conflict. He said Pyongyang was probably seeking to vent its anger and demonstrate its defiance against the UNSC announcement and to counter the joint military drills.
Pyongyang routinely test-fires artillery and missiles into the ocean, but it is rare for the country to disclose such training plans in advance. Wee Yong-sub, a deputy spokesman at the South Korean defence ministry, said the North Korean message was a "hostile" attempt to heighten tension on the Korean Peninsula. “It is [also] concerned its needs should be addressed and not just ignored,” especially given the international community’s focus on Ukraine, Cheng added.
The poorly marked western sea boundary has been the scene of several bloody naval skirmishes between the Koreas in recent years. In 2010, North Korea launched artillery strikes on a front-line South Korean island near the boundary, killing four. Pyongyang said it was responding to earlier South Korea's artillery drills that day. Delury said the North’s motives for the Monday exercises were likely to be multiple, including trying to regain the international attention attracted by South Korean president Park Geun-hye’s speech in Dresden on inter-Korean relations.
Last spring, tension spiked after a near-daily barrage of North Korean threats, including warnings of nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington, following international criticism of Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February of last year. “Two days later this is their response: pointing out the gap between her rhetoric and the reality,” he said.
The North has since gradually dialled down its threats and sought improved ties with South Korea in what foreign analysts say is an attempt to lure international investment and aid. He suggested Kim was probably also seeking to send a message to the North’s elite and its public after a tempestuous period climaxing in the execution of his uncle in December.
There has been no major breakthrough in the North's reported push to win outside aid, however, with Washington and Seoul calling on the North to first take disarmament steps to prove its sincerity about improving ties, analysts say. Wee Yong-sub, a deputy spokesman at the South Korean defence ministry, said Monday morning’s warning from Pyongyang that it would conduct firing drills in seven areas north of the sea boundary was a hostile attempt to heighten tension on the Korean Peninsula. But analysts said that the North was probably hoping to ensure the South did not strike back too strongly.
The North Korean live-fire drills and the country's hints at a nuclear test are meant to express anger and frustration over what the North sees as little improvement in progress in its ties with South Korea and the US, said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University. Lim said the North might conduct a fourth nuclear test and launch other provocations to try to wrest the outside concessions it wants. Seoul’s defence minister said last month that the North had finished initial preparations for another underground nuclear detonation at its test site, but that no signs of an imminent blast had been spotted.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are deployed in South Korea to deter potential aggression from North Korea. Many North Korea analysts believe it is likely to hold its fourth test soon. What a new kind of test would constitute is unclear; one possibility is that it wants to try an enriched uranium bomb rather than a plutonium device. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the east Asia non-proliferation programme at the James Martin Centre for Non-proliferation Studies, wrote on the 38north blog last week that the North might be preparing for multiple blasts.
An acceleration in the pace of testing – its previous detonations were carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013 – might suggest that it was not carrying them out simply as demonstrations of its nuclear capability or determination to equip itself, but was able to make real progress through tests.