North Korea launches live-fire drill: South Korea

Seoul says North Korea has launched a live-fire drill by firing dozens of artillery shells into the sea near the disputed maritime border with South Korea.

“Dozens of shells were fired into North Korean territorial waters” at the eastern tip of the demilitarized zone shortly before midday (0300 GMT) Monday, South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The drill came a day after North Korea fired two Scud missiles into the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The Sunday launch was the fifth in the past two weeks.

The tests and drill by North Korea are apparently aimed at showing its displeasure at upcoming South Korean-US naval exercises.

On Saturday, Pyongyang condemned the planned five-day joint drill between South Korea and the US, which will begin on July 16.

“The US should properly understand that the more persistently it resorts to reckless nuclear blackmail and threat, the further the DPRK (North Korea) will bolster up its cutting edge nuclear force for self-defense,” said North Korea’s top military body, the National Defense Commission.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace deal.