North Korea test fired artillery shells into waters near a disputed border yesterday, provoking a South Korean volley of warning shots, raising tensions between the rivals as they inch toward disarmament talks.
South Korea issued a verbal warning after three shots landed near the tense maritime border at about 1pm and then in a tit-for-tat, the South returned three artillery rounds toward the same area about an hour later.
The South’s response came after the government was heavily criticized for failing to react with force last year when North Korea shelled one of its islands, Yeonpyeong, in the same area.
The attack on the island was the first on civilians since the end of the 1950 to 1953 Korean War.
“It is our assessment that it was part of a training exercise by the North,” a South Korean military official said. “Three shots were heard. Our assessment is one shell landed near the NLL [Northern Limit Line]. Accordingly we fired three shots back.”
Explaining why the South took an hour to respond, a defense official said: “We could not get visual confirmation about where the North’s shells landed and we needed to use equipment to assess where they landed.”
He said there was no unusual activity in the North indicating imminent aggression.
Fishing boats in the vicinity were called to port and Yeonpyeong residents were evacuated to emergency shelters, media reports said.
Financial markets barely reacted to the incident.
The South Korean military official said it was unclear at this point if any of the North Korean shells had landed on the South’s side of the NLL, the disputed maritime border.
The NLL was unilaterally drawn up by the US military at the end of the Korean War and it has been the scene of several skirmishes over the past decade.
In November, the North fired about 150 shells at Yeonpyeong, which is near the NLL, killing four people, including two civilians.
South Korean forces took nearly 15 minutes to respond to that attack and then they only returned fire in a way seen as disproportionately weak.
Tensions on the peninsula have subsequently eased after last year’s attacks and, last month, the two Koreas and the US discussed ways to restart talks on disarming North Korea’s nuclear program in return for ending its economic and political isolation.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu