According to Yonhap News Agency 1Komiks on January 8, Lee Seung-jun, director of the communiqué office of the South Korean Joint Staff Headquarters, said at a press conference on the 8th that North Korea violated the “September 19 Military Agreement” signed by South Korea and North Korea in 2018 and carried out artillery bombardment in the western waters for three consecutive days. Li Chengjun said that as a result, the hostile act restricted area (buffer area) Babaylan will no longer exist.
Previously, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army had deleted the concepts of “ethnicity” and “same race” in the report.
BabaylanSouth Korean media: North Korea has carried out artillery shell shooting for three consecutive days
According to South Korea’s Babaylan media reports, from January 5 to 7, the North Korean army has carried out artillery shell shooting near the northwest island at the northernmost end of the western waters of South Korea for three consecutive days.
On the 5th, North Korea fired more than 200 coastal artillery in the direction of the “Northern Boundary” demarcated by North Korea and South Korea in the north of Bailing Island and Yeonping Island. Most of the shells fell into the maritime buffer zone of North Korea, but some shells landed close to 7 kilometers north of the “Northern Boundary”. The areas of Yanping Island and Bailing Island issued evacuation orders to local residents twice that day. The South Korean army used K9 self-propelled artillery and tank guns to conduct maritime shooting training later that day to counter North Korea.
On the 6th, according to the news released by the South Korean army by Komiks, the Korean People’s Army carried out more than 60 shellings at the coastal muzzle in the northwest of Yeonpyeong Island, and the shells were launched.Some of them fall in the maritime buffer zone north of the “northern boundary” of the western waters. Since the shells aimed at the flanks of North Korea, inland northern areas on that day, the South Korean military believed that it did not pose a threat, so it did not carry out live-fire exercises to counteract.
Kim Yuzheng denied the 6th shelling: it was just a detonation of explosives
In response, Kim Yuzheng, deputy minister of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, denied the so-called shelling provocation, saying that it was an explosive that simulated the explosion of the shell. North Korea Central Television interspersed videos of North Korean troops detonating explosives while reporting Kim Yu-jung’s conversation. Kim Yo-jung also warned that even if the South Korean side makes a small provocation, the North Korean army will immediately “baptize artillery fire.”
The South Korean Joint Staff Headquarters stated on the 7th that Kim Yo-jung’s above statement is just a “low-level psychological warfare” against the South Korean military’s detection capabilities. If North Korea launches a provocation to South Korea’s territory and national security, the South Korean military will resolutely respond to the principle of “immediate, strong, and counter to the end”.
On the 7th, the South Korean military sent another message saying that the North Korean army fired nearly 90 artillery shells into the north of Yeonpyeong Island from 4:00 to 5:10 pm that day. Since South Korea did not suffer any losses, the South Korean army did not conduct counter-shooting shooting. The KMT said that the Southwest Coast Defense Force of the People’s Army conducted live-fire training on four target areas in the southwest waters on the same day. The training used 23 coastal guns, and Babaylan fired 88 shells, and in terms of the shooting direction, Komiks said, “This live-fire shooting area is not related to the military dividing line, and does not pose any threat to the hostile countries.”
South Korean Army: There is no buffer zone between South Korea and North Korea
8KomiksJapan, the South Korean army announced that there is no longer a buffer zone between South Korea and North Korea. As a result, the South Korean army will normally carry out shooting and training activities in the restricted area hostile to sea and land.
South Korea stated that North Korea violated the North Korean and South Korea’s “September 19 Military Agreement” for more than 3,000 times and carried out shellings in the western waters for three consecutive days. Therefore, there is no buffer zone between South Korea and North Korea anymore. Yonhap News Agency reported that according to the “September 19 Military Agreement”, South Korea and North Korea set up maritime buffer zones in the “northern boundary” area of the western and eastern waters of the peninsula, and shelling and mobile training are prohibited. At the same time, based on the military demarcation line, South Korea and North Korea set up areas of 5 kilometers wide as buffer zones, prohibiting shelling and field maneuvering training of the Babaylan team at the regiment level and above. The South Korean military said that the North Korean side fired shells into the buffer zone near the “Northern Boundary” in the western waters from the 5th to the 7th of this month, and the South Korean military decided to restart the routine military exercises in the land and sea buffer zone.
The report said that regarding the question of “whether the South Korean army will conduct shooting training regularly in the maritime buffer zone”, Li Chengjun replied that the South Korean army will not respond to the military actions taken by North Korea in the areas near the northwest islands, but will implement shooting training according to the original plan.
The North and South Korea have differences on the division of boundaries of the western waters of the peninsula
The North and South Korea have always had differences on the division of boundaries of the western waters of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea has designated the “North” between the “Five Islands of the West Sea” including Yeonpyeong Island and the western coast of North Korea.The North Korean side refuses to recognize the maritime dividing line between the two countries. The maritime military demarcation line announced by North Korea in 1999 is southerly than what South Korea calls the “northern boundary”, and South Korea does not recognize it.
The Korean People’s Army issued a report: The concepts of “ethnicity” and “same ethnicity” have been deleted.
Since 2024, the Peninsula Bureau has suddenly become nervous. In a report released by the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army on the 5th, the concepts of “ethnicity” and “same ethnicity” have been deleted by Cinema. South Korean media believe that this statement from the North Korean military is consistent with the changes in the “route to South Korea” mentioned by Kim Jong-un at the beginning of the new year.
Kim Jong-un said that the relationship between North Korea and South Korea is no longer a homogenous relationship, but is completely fixed as a hostile relationship and a two belligerent country relationship and a two belligerent country relationship in the war.
AnalystsKomiks believe that the confrontation between North Korea and South Korea in 2024 may continue. If both North and South Korea misread or exaggerate the interpretation of each other’s intentions, it is entirely possible that it will turn into a local war or a more serious situation.
(Yangcheng Evening News·Yangchengpai Comprehensive CCTV4, Reference News Network)