North Korea yesterday fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean border islands, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said, prompting a live-fire drill from the South’s military.
Residents of the islands were ordered to evacuate and ferries were suspended as South Korea held a live-fire exercise after the North’s barrage.
The live firing followed repeated warnings from the administration of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that it was prepared for war against South Korea and the US.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The ministry said that the North’s military fired “over some 200 rounds” of artillery shells near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, two sparsely populated South Korean islands that are just south of a de facto maritime border between the two sides.
The shells landed in the so-called buffer zone along the border, created by a 2018 deal that fell apart in November after Kim’s spy satellite launch.
Resuming artillery fire within the buffer zone “is a provocative act that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and escalates tensions,” South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik said.
In response to Pyongyang’s actions, Seoul’s military would take “immediate, strong, and final retaliation — we must back peace with overwhelming force,” he said.
China called for “restraint” from all sides.
“We hope that all relevant parties maintain calm and restraint, refrain from taking actions that aggravate tensions, avoid further escalation of the situation, and create conditions for the resumption of meaningful dialogue,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told reporters.
Yeonpyeong, which has about 2,000 residents, is about 115km west of Seoul.
Baengnyeong, with a population of 4,900, is about 210km west of Seoul.
Local officials on both islands told reporters that residents had been told to evacuate, describing the order as a “preventative measure” ahead of the South Korean military drill.
The order was lifted soon afterward, Yonhap news agency reported.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS