(2nd LD) N. Korea warns S. Korea to stop 'military provocations' in frontline areas

All News 15:09 October 19, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with new statement; RECASTS headline, lead)
By Kim Soo-yeon

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's military warned South Korea on Wednesday to halt what it calls "provocations in frontline areas," having again fired hundreds of artillery shots into maritime buffer zones near their border in response to field drills under way in the South.

In its second statement directed at the South on the day, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said the North's troops opened "threatening and warning fire" again into the eastern and western waters in response to the firing by the "enemies" of over 10 shots from multiple rocket launchers near the border between around 8:27 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. in "another military provocation."

"Our Army strongly warns the enemy forces to immediately stop the highly irritating provocative act in the frontline areas," an unnamed spokesperson for the KPA General Staff said in the English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea fired around 100 additional artillery shells into waters off its west coast Wednesday, following its overnight launch of more than 250 artillery shots.

The KPA official earlier said the North's move was aimed at countering a series of "military provocative acts by enemies," citing the Hoguk military drills under way in the South.

The South's military kicked off its annual Hoguk exercise Monday in order to hone combat readiness against the North's nuclear and missile threats. The drills are to run until Oct. 28.

The North's back-to-back artillery firings came despite speculation that Pyongyang may refrain from staging military provocations during the ongoing 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Last week, North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shots into the maritime buffer zones in the East and Yellow seas that were set under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing military tensions. South Korea called the North's provocations a clear violation of the 2018 inter-Korean military accord.