South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported on Friday that the marine brigades stationed on Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island conducted naval shooting exercises using K9 self-propelled howitzers and tank guns as a reaction to the artillery shelling from North Korea earlier in the day.
Namely, this marks the first time that the marine units in the northwest islands, that fall under South Korea's control, have carried out such training since the inter-Korean military accord was signed in 2018. Previously, North Korea's artillery projectiles fell into the marine buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border established in accordance with the inter-Korean agreement.
Tensions between the two countries rose in 2010 after Pyongyang launched an attack on Yeonpyeong Island in response to Seoul's artillery exercises in disputed waters, which resulted in several casualties. According to the UN, it was one of the most dangerous escalations on the Peninsula since the Korean War.
