South Korean Marines patrolling Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.
South Korean officials ordered civilians living on the remote border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong to evacuate and seek cover in bomb shelters, according to news reports.
The two islands are located near South Korea’s disputed maritime border with North Korea and the waters have been the site of a number of deadly encounters between the two nations.
Seoul’s military said North Korea fired more than 200 artillery rounds off its western coast towards the islands on Friday morning.
The live rounds did not harm any civilians or military and all landed on the northern side of the border, South Korea said.
South Korea denounced the move as “provocative,” and Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said it “escalates tension and threatens peace on the Korean peninsula.”
The country held its own maritime firing drills later on Friday in response to the North’s artillery fire.
Key Background
Tensions on the Korean peninsula is rapidly rising and are at some of their worst points in decades. Friday’s move follows Kim saying Korean reunification is impossible and urging the military and industrial sectors to prepare for war, a major policy shift towards its southern neighbor. In recent years, Pyongyang has escalated inflammatory rhetoric over threats to build and use nuclear weapons, continued its tests to develop and grow its nuclear arsenal and amended its constitution to cement its status as a nuclear power, as well as launching a military spy satellite and cultivating ties with Russia. Washington has deployed a nuclear-powered submarine and undertaken military drills with allied forces in the region like Tokyo and Seoul to deter Pyongyang and both countries have vowed overwhelming military responses should the other attack.
After years of speculation, South Korea’s spy agency NIS believes it finally knows who is likely to succeed Kim as the leader of North Korea. The agency said Kim Ju Ae, Kim Jong Un’s daughter, is in line for the position after a series of public appearances with her father in 2023. Little is known about Ju Ae, who was not seen publicly until late 2022 at a missile test, but her increasing presence at public events and the respect shown to her suggest she is Kim’s “most likely successor,” NIS said.
Kim Ju Ae, the daughter of Kim Jong Un, will likely succeed her father as North Korea’s leader, according to South Korea’s spy agency NIS—though little is known about her since making several public appearances over the last year, increasing speculation about her potential leadership.