DPRK Says it Opened Fire With Grenade Launchers in Response to Shots From South Korea
rocket launcher is fired during a live drill by the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment and the Mu Islet Hero Defense Detachment deployed in the southwestern sector of North Korea
South Korea says it fired “warning shots” at a North Korean boat that crossed the maritime border between the two countries. North Korea said it responded with fire from rocket launchers, early on Monday morning.The North Korean retaliatory shots came around 5:15 am, a little less than an hour and a half after South Korea says it shot its warning shots at 3:42 a.m. local time on Monday. North Korea fired ten shots from a rocket launcher, according to Reuters. North Korean state media claimed South Korea fired “10 shells of multiple rocket launchers in the frontline zone.”According to South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff, it sent back a North Korean merchant vessel that had passed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the unofficial sea border between the two nations.South Korea maintains that a North Korean commercial vessel was the first to cross the sea border, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said. Meanwhile, the North Korean military said that a South Korean warship violated the western sea border around the same time.”We once again sternly warned to enemies that staged maritime provocations on top of the firing of artillery shots and cross-border loudspeaker broadcasts,” a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff said in a statement quoted by Yonhap on Monday.No casualties or injuries have been reported.On October 19, North Korea accused South Korea of “military provocation” during its military drills by firing rockets near Cholwon County in the South Kangwon Province. Those alleged actions have not been confirmed by the South Korean government. North Korea said units in the area were ordered to fire retaliatory warning shots. It is not known if the shots on Monday were related to this order.
WorldNorth Korea Retaliates Seoul’s ‘Provocations’ Near Forward Defense Area, State Media Report14 October, 06:37 GMTTensions have been rising in the area after North Korea conducted multiple missile tests, including one that landed in Japanese waters last month. The United States and South Korea then held military drills in the area and US Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Korea a week later. Pyongyang condemned the military drills, calling them provocative.