North Korea Refutes Artillery Firing
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, derided South Korea’s capability to detect North Korean weapons launches on Sunday, refuting Seoul’s assertion that North Korea had fired artillery shells into the sea the previous day.
In response, South Korea’s military promptly dismissed Kim Yo Jong’s statement as a tactic of “low-level psychological warfare” and cautioned that any provocations by North Korea would be met with a firm response.
Earlier, South Korea’s military had reported that North Korea had fired shells near the disputed western sea boundary between the two countries for the second consecutive day on Saturday. The military stated that North Korea had launched over 60 rounds on Saturday following the previous day’s launch of more than 200 shells.
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While North Korea admitted to conducting artillery firings on Friday, it denied firing any rounds on Saturday. Kim Yo Jong claimed on Sunday that North Korea had merely detonated blasting powder to simulate the sound of coastal artillery, intending to test South Korea’s military detection capabilities.
“The outcome was as anticipated. They misinterpreted the blasting sound as gunfire, presuming it to be a provocation. They even falsely claimed that the shells fell north of the sea boundary,” Kim Yo Jong asserted in a statement carried by state media.
Expressing disdain for South Korea’s reliance on what she characterized as incompetent individuals for security, she stated, “It is regrettable to see the (South Korean) people placing their security in the hands of such individuals and paying substantial taxes to them. Trusting security to a dog with heightened hearing and smell would be ten times better.”
Kim Yo Jong disparaged South Korea’s military as “gangsters” and “clowns in military uniforms,” cautioning that their potential misinterpretation of North Korean actions could lead to an inadvertent clash between the countries, endangering the safety of Seoul, a city of 10 million people located just an hour’s drive from the border.
In response, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized their close monitoring of North Korean military activities. They urged North Korea to refrain from escalating tensions, warning of an “overwhelming” response to any provocations.
The recent artillery firings on Friday by both Koreas targeted a maritime buffer zone established under a 2018 military agreement aimed at reducing front-line military tensions. However, breaches in the agreement by both sides now jeopardize its stability.
The ongoing animosity between the two Koreas stems from North Korea’s continuous missile tests since 2022 and South Korea’s increased military exercises with the United States in a retaliatory exchange.
Amidst these developments, experts speculate that Kim Jong Un may intensify weapons tests leading up to South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the US presidential elections in November. This strategy is believed to be an attempt to leverage a strengthened weapons arsenal for greater concessions from the United States once diplomatic negotiations resume.
