SEOUL, Jan 8: The recent live-fire drills by North Korea near the western maritime border have undermined the buffer zones established under a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement, heightening the risk of clashes between the north and south.
In a recent series of live-fire drills, between Friday and Sunday last week, North Korea launched approximately 350 rounds of artillery shells into waters off its west coast, marking the first such exercises near the sea border since December 2022.
The Friday drills targeted South Korea’s Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands, prompting a response from South Korea’s army and leading residents to seek shelter.
“Since North Korea conducted artillery firings in the Yellow Sea for three consecutive days, buffer zones that ban hostile acts no longer exist.
“We (South Korea) will also conduct artillery firings and drills near the borders – both sea and land,” said the Spokesperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Colonel Lee Sung-Jun in a press conference today.
Under the agreement, both Seoul and Pyongyang are prohibited from firing artillery or conducting large-scale drills in the sea near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and the border area within five kilometers on each side of the military demarcation line to prevent accidental clashes.
In 2018, South Korea partially suspended the agreement in protest of North Korea’s first spy satellite launch in late November of that year.
Since then, North Korea has taken various measures to strengthen its borders, including rebuilding destroyed guard posts, deploying heavy arms in the Demilitarised Zones, installing mines in an area recognized for inter-Korean reconciliation and exchanges, and rearming soldiers in the Joint Security Area (JSA).
President of the University of North Korean Studies, Yang Moo Jin said the drills can be taken as the North’s willingness to restore military measures halted under the agreement and to see Seoul’s response.
“North Korea may want to show off that it is taking the lead in military issues on the Korean Peninsula at the beginning of the new year and demonstrate its willingness to implement confrontational moves announced in the year-end party meeting,” Yang said.
Kim Jong Un, the president of the communist country has stepped up its military capabilities as there is no chance of unification due to continued hostility between the two Koreas.
Analysts are expressing concerns over accidental clashes near the sea border this year as Pyongyang may want to divert United States (US) attention to the Korean Peninsula ahead of the US presidential election in November. – TVS
