Seoul on Friday ordered the evacuation of residents from Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands near North Korea, after Pyongyang fired around 200 artillery shells off its west coast. “The North Korean military carried out more than 200 firings today between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. (12:00 p.m. and 02:00 GMT) in the Jangsan-got areas of northern Baengnyeong Island and in the north (. ..) from Yeonpyeong Island,” a Defense Ministry official said.
Residents of these two South Korean border islands, located in the Yellow Sea, have been asked to evacuate, according to local officials. The authorities on Yeonpyeong Island declared to AFP that the evacuation order had been issued as a “preventive measure”. “We are making evacuation announcements at the moment,” said a district official on the island of Baengnyeong (northwest), adding that he was aware of the upcoming conduct of a naval exercise by the South Korean army.
In the wake of Pyongyang’s artillery barrage, South Korea denounced an “act of provocation”, urging its neighbor to put an end to it and warning that it will respond with “appropriate” measures. “We strongly warn that North Korea bears full responsibility for this escalation of the crisis and we urge it to immediately cease these actions,” the South Korean Defense Ministry wrote in a statement. “Our military is closely monitoring and monitoring the situation in close coordination with the United States,” he added.
In 2010, Pyongyang had already fired 170 artillery shells on the island of Yeonpyeong, killing four people, including two civilians, in the first North Korean attack against civilians since the Korean War (1950-1953).
“Persistent and uncontrollable crisis”
The two Koreas began a process of rapprochement in 2018, characterized by three meetings between Kim Jong Un and the South Korean president at the time, Moon Jae-in. But relations between the two Koreas deteriorated to a low point this year after Pyongyang’s launch of a spy satellite, which prompted Seoul to partially suspend a 2018 military deal aimed at defusing tensions.
At the end of a meeting of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the end of December, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the acceleration of military preparations for a “war” that could “be launched at any time.” moment” on the peninsula. He had also accused the United States, in a lengthy speech, of “various types of military threats” and ordered its armed forces to maintain “an overwhelming war response capability.”
At the party meeting, the leader said he no longer seeks reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, pointing to the “persistent and uncontrollable crisis situation” that he said was triggered by Seoul and Washington. In 2023, North Korea conducted a record number of ballistic missile tests, in violation of numerous UN resolutions prohibiting it. The country also engraved its status as a nuclear power in its Constitution, and successfully tested the Hwasong-18, the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its arsenal, capable of reaching the United States.