Rockets Fired Into Maritime Buffer Zone

The South Korean military says that the North fired scores of artillery rounds into maritime buffer zones off its east and west coasts, reports the Yonhap news agency (Seoul).

On Monday, North Korea launched around 130 projectiles, believed to be from multiple rocket launchers in Kumgang county in Kangwon province and Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae province, into the maritime buffer zones north of the Northern Limit Line, a de facto sea border agreed in 2018 to reduce border tensions, said the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The JCS said it warned Pyongyang several times that its launches were a violation of the 2018 accord and called for an immediate cessation.

Later in the day, the North Korean military confirmed that it had conducted the launches in response to South Korean live-fire drills.

Pyongyang also called on the South to stop increasing tensions by conducting military activities near the border.