North Korea confirms firing artillery shells, calls it ‘serious warning’ to South

North Korea's military has confirmed firing over 250 artillery shells into maritime buffer zones near the inter-Korean border, describing it as a "serious warning" against the South's ongoing joint war games with the United States.

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said in a Wednesday statement that Pyongyang had launched the "warning" shots as a "powerful military countermeasure" against joint US-South Korea war games in the area that began on Monday and are due to continue until Saturday.

The statement, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), demanded that the South immediately halt the "reckless and inciting provocations" that have raised military tensions on the peninsula.

The announcement came hours after the North launched the artillery shells into waters off its east and west coasts.

Pyongyang's acknowledgment of firing the artillery shells came hours after Seoul reported them, while calling on the North to immediately stop such actions.

South Korea says North fired artillery into ‘buffer zone’

South Korea says the North has fired artillery shells into waters off its east and west coasts, urging Pyongyang to immediately halt such actions.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement early on Wednesday that its northern rival had fired nearly 100 shells off its west coast and 150 rounds off its east coast, adding, “We strongly urge North Korea to immediately halt its actions.”

Pyongyang's artillery firing came despite speculation that it may refrain from staging retaliatory military measures against Seoul's Hoguk war games during China's ongoing 20th Congress of the Communist Party.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula flared last week after North Korea tested a missile, shot more than 500 artillery shells, and flew a multitude of fighter jets near the skirmish-prone sea border in response to joint military drills held by the South.

Seoul condemned Pyongyang over the move, saying it violated a 2018 bilateral military pact banning "hostile acts" in the border area. It also imposed its first unilateral sanctions against the North in nearly five years.

The North, however, blamed the South's military forces for escalating tensions.

The development also came amid claims by South Korean lawmakers that the North has completed preparations for what would be its first nuclear test since 2017.

South Korea announced the start of its Hoguk war games with US forces on Monday, claiming that they were aimed at ramping up the two countries' ability to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

S. Korea kicks off annual war games with US amid fears of N. Korean nuclear test

South Korea

The war games mark the latest of a series of joint military exercises by the US and South Korea in recent months, and joint maneuvers carried out with Japanese troops.

Pyongyang has reacted angrily to the recent war games by Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo, dubbing them provocative and vowing to take countermeasures.

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