On Wednesday, North Korea fired at least 10 missiles into the sea off its east and west coasts; one of these missiles sailed close to South Korean waters and raised the alarm for an air raid on a populated island, where residents took cover.
According to the South's Defense Ministry, the exchange marked the first time missiles had been launched across the Koreas' maritime boundary, though all of them landed into international waters.
South Korea Hits Back at North's Missiles
South Korea retaliated by firing missiles from fighter jets into waters close to the North's territory, as per NY Times.
The military issued an air-raid alert after one of the North Korea's missiles hit Ulleung, an island off the east coast of South Korea with a population of around 9,000. The chief director of operations for the South Korean military, Lt. Gen. Kang Shin Chul, described the launch as "a highly unusual and terrible conduct."
The South's military later claimed that three warning air-to-land missiles fired by its F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets into international waters relatively distant from the North's own territorial waters. The vicinity of Ulleung was off-limits to aviation traffic until Thursday morning, according to South Korea's transportation ministry.
The exchange increased the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which have been rising recently. According to his office, Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of the South, declared that the launch near Ulleung "amounted to invading South Korea's territorial waters."
North Korea Missile Launches
In the midst of a period of national mourning for the 156 people killed in the Itaewon crowd crush at the weekend, President Yoon Suk-yeol called a meeting of the National Security Council and denounced the "unprecedented" launches.
He was quoted as saying in a statement following the NSC meeting that firing a missile south of the NLL was "tantamount to territorial intrusion," with his office pledging a "quick and forceful response" to ensure North Korea "pays the price for provocation," Aljazeera reported.
According to the president of South Korea, it would be better for the South to increase pressure on China to exert pressure on Pyongyang by multilaterally tightening sanctions and increasing US-South Korea-Japan security cooperation.
There are concerns that North Korea may soon begin nuclear testing after conducting an unprecedented number of weapons tests this year - more than double the launch record set in 2019.
Per The Independent, the launch on Wednesday was one of Pyongyang's most significant missile bombardments since 2010.
This brings the total number of missiles fired by Pyongyang this year alone to above 60, including around 50 ballistic missiles. The East Sea was the target of the majority of these shots.
Japan also reported the launch, although it did not provide a confirmation of the number of missiles fired. According to Seoul's army lieutenant general Kang-Shin-chul, the Wednesday morning missile launch constitutes a significant escalation because the missile is most likely the first this year to have entered South Korea's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The JCS's chief director of operations said in a video announcement that this was also the first time a missile from the DPRK had come down close to South Korea's territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, which is only 35 miles (57 km) east of Seoul's coastal city of Sokcho and 104 miles (167 kms) northeast of the island, according to Seoul-based NK News.
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