Reports: North Korea fires artillery into sea near maritime border

DPA
·1 min read
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Passengers watch the news on North Korea's latest artillery provocation at a ferry terminal in Incheon. -/YNA/dpa
Passengers watch the news on North Korea's latest artillery provocation at a ferry terminal in Incheon. -/YNA/dpa

According to South Korean reports, North Korea's military has fired more than 200 artillery shells near the disputed maritime border between the two states.

The shells fell into the Yellow Sea north of the maritime border known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the General Staff in South Korea announced on Friday. The shells did not cause any damage.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap had previously reported that the military had asked the residents of Yeonpyeong Island, which is close to the border, to take shelter as a precautionary measure. The island off the west coast was the target of a North Korean artillery attack which killed four people in 2010.

Tensions are currently escalating again on the Korean Peninsula. According to Yonhap, the armed forces of South Korea and the US also began an artillery exercise near the border with North Korea on Thursday.

The area around the maritime border has been the scene of several confrontations between warships from both countries in the past. North Korea does not recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line (NLL).