According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the missiles were fired on Monday at around 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. in Poland) towards the Yellow Sea. This happened less than an hour before the arrival of South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gju Bak and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth at the Camp Bonifas base, located near the DMZ.
How many missiles were fired from North Korea?
When did the visit of the US Minister of Defense take place?
What does the term DMZ mean?
What is the South Korean military doing in response to North Korea's actions?
It was the first such visit by the head of the Pentagon to the demilitarized zone since 2017.
“Our military closely monitors North Korean activities as part of our joint defense posture with the U.S. and maintains the ability to respond overwhelmingly to any threat,” the JCS said in a statement.
Kim Jong Un's provocations
The army also confirmed that on Saturday at around On the 15th, the South Korean army fired 10 other artillery shells. The event took place during talks between the president of South Korea. Li Jae Mjung with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit in Gyeongju.
Pyongyang has carried out similar provocations in the past, including: in October, just before US President Donald Trump's visit to the APEC summit.
Although rocket artillery tests do not violate UN Security Council resolutions, the capital of South Korea, Seoul, and its surroundings are within the range of the North's 240 mm caliber launchers, notes the Yonhap agency.
Camp Bonifas is a United Nations Command forward military base located just 400 m south of the DMZ in South Korea, serving as the headquarters of the United Nations Security Battalion monitoring the Joint Security Area (JSA).
