North Korea has warned of an immediate military strike if provoked, as it continues artillery drills near its disputed maritime border with South Korea.
Over the weekend, North Korea fired over 350 artillery rounds near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime boundary between the rival Koreas. On Sunday, Kim Yo Jong, sister and trusted adviser of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a stern statement vowing retaliation for any provocations against the North.
“I make myself clear once again that the safety catch of trigger of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) had already been slipped,” she said. “As already declared, the KPA will launch an immediate military strike if the enemy makes even a slight provocation.
Her comments follow artillery drills by the North on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with over 60 rounds fired on Saturday alone. The North claims the drills do not threaten the South as they are parallel to the border. However, South Korea has rejected this as psychological warfare aimed at raising tensions.
In response to Friday’s drills, South Korea conducted its own artillery fire exercises in the Yellow Sea. Additional counter drills are not currently planned despite the continued shelling from the North.
While no shells crossed the NLL boundary, the dueling military exercises have sparked warnings for South Korean residents of border islands to take shelter. Relations between the rival Koreas have sharply deteriorated in recent months.
North Korea ramped up weapons testing to a record pace in 2022, firing over 70 ballistic missiles including ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. The latest artillery drills and combative rhetoric from Pyongyang continue this pattern of aggression.
At a recent ruling party meeting, Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential increase” of the North’s nuclear arsenal and new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to counter what he claims is hostility from the U.S. and South Korea. Regional security analysts see the artillery drills as the latest attempt by North Korea to dominate escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The volatile situation has raised concerns that miscalculations by either side could spiral into armed conflict. While experts see this recent burst of North Korean weapons tests and fiery rhetoric as primarily political messaging rather than preparation for war, risks remain heightened in the absence of substantive dialogue.
As North Korea continues aggression through drills and bellicose threats, prospects for diplomacy appear low in the near term. Absent de-escalation efforts, the Korean Peninsula looks set for an uneasy 2023 rife with confrontation and brinkmanship
