North Korea on Friday fired 200 artillery shells into waters close to its western sea border with South Korea. Although the rounds fell north of the border and caused no damage, the move was criticized by the South Korean military for “threatening peace and raising tensions.” Seoul then fired its own artillery barrage south of the sea boundary later on Friday. Officials said the South Korean military asked residents on the islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong to take shelter ahead of the drill out of fears that the North could start firing again in response. In 2010, a North Korean barrage killed four South Koreans on Yeonpyeong, and locals have often been ordered to evacuate or take shelter during Pyongyang’s military drills and rocket launches. The North’s barrage Friday was the first since it abandoned a 2018 agreement not to conduct live-fire military drills close to the border.
