South Korea orders island evacuation over ‘provocation’

The move comes amid reports of a major artillery barrage by the North near a border island

South Korea has ordered civilians on an island near the border with North Korea to evacuate to shelters, after accusing Pyongyang of firing off hundreds of artillery shells as part of a military “provocation.”

The evacuation order was issued twice on Friday afternoon by local authorities, Yonhap News reported, noting that it came amid “apparent signs of a military provocation by North Korea.”

“We announced the evacuation after receiving a call from a military unit saying it was carrying out a maritime strike on Yeongpyeong Island as it has a situation with a North Korean provocation,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

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The news outlet separately reported that North Korea had launched approximately “200 artillery shells off its west coast” on Friday morning, with Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stating it had detected fire near at least two islands in the border region. The shells landed into waters in a maritime buffer zone established under a 2018 deal between the two Koreas, though Pyongyang has since withdrawn from the agreement.

The reports came soon after joint US-South Korea live-fire military drills near the border, which the North condemned as “reckless war maneuvers.” Involving a South Korean Army mechanized infantry brigade and the US Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the drills began on December 29 in the border city of Pocheon, some 46km (28.5 miles) northeast of Seoul.

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