South Korea fires shells over North’s rocket attack

The South Korean government says its military has fired shells into North Korea in response to an earlier rocket attack from the North.

The South Korean Defense Ministry announced the news on state media on Thursday.

Earlier, South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency cited military sources who reportedly claimed that North Korea fired artillery shells on South Korea earlier in the day.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry added that it fired “tens” of 155 mm artillery rounds into what it called the source of where the rocket was reportedly fired from.

“Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closely watching North Korean military movements,” The South Korean military said.

It is being reported that Seoul will hold a National Security Council session over the shelling.

In recent weeks, tensions have spiked on the Korean Peninsula after two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded by land mines on the border between the two countries. Pyongyang denies any involvement, but South Korea accuses the North of planting the mines.

Seoul also resumed blaring propaganda messages over the border from huge sets of loudspeakers after North Korea restarted its own propaganda broadcasts earlier this week.

The South also vowed a “harsh” response to the land mine incident.

North’s ultimatum

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Pyongyang has warned Seoul to dismantle the loudspeakers on the border or face military action.

According to the ministry, the North issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the South to dismantle the propaganda units it has installed on the border or face military action.

The message was delivered by the Korean People’s Army general staff through an inter-Korean military hotline, the statement said.

The Korean Peninsula has been locked in a cycle of military rhetoric since the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 and ended in an armistice. No peace deal has been signed since then, meaning that Pyongyang and Seoul remain technically at war.