North Korea Launches Artillery at South Korean Border Isles Following Kim Jong Un's War Preparations

 South Korea on Friday reportedly ordered civilians to seek shelter after North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells towards a border island, escalating tensions on the peninsula as Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un calls on his military and industrial sectors to prepare for war with its southern neighbor and its ally the United States.

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 Defence 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.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are 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 in an effort 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.