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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un On Sunday he mocked South Korea’s ability to detect weapons launched by the North, as he refuted Seoul’s claim that North Korea had fired artillery shells into the sea the previous day.
South Korea’s military immediately dismissed his statement as “low-level psychological warfare” and warned it would respond strongly to any provocation by North Korea.
North Korea acknowledged that it fired artillery on Friday but said it did not fire a single round on Saturday.
Kim’s sister, kim yo jongNorth Korea detonated blasting powder simulating the sound of its coastal artillery only on a beach to test the South Korean military’s detection capabilities, North Korea said on Sunday.
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“The result was as clear as we expected. They mistook the sound of blasting for firing and called it an act of provocation. Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media, and she also made a false and brazen statement that the shells fell north of the maritime border.
She said, “I can’t say that (South Korean) people are very pitiful because they entrust security to such blind persons and burden them.” “It is 10 times better to entrust protection to a dog with a developed sense of hearing and smell.”
Calling South Korea’s military “gangsters” and “clowns in military uniform”, Kim Yo Jong suggested that future miscalculations of North Korean moves could lead to an accidental clash between the rivals, leading to the destruction of Seoul, a city of 10 million people. The safety of may be in danger. Only an hour’s drive from the land border.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff responded in a statement that it closely monitors North Korean military activities. It said North Korea should stop actions that escalate tensions, adding that it would respond “forcefully” if North Korea initiated provocations.
South Korea fired artillery on Friday in response to North Korea’s earlier firing drills. South Korea did not conduct live-firing drills on Saturday.
Hostilities between the two Koreas are at a fever pitch as North Korea has carried out a flurry of missile tests since 2022, while South Korea has expanded its military training with the United States in a tit-for-tat cycle.
During their respective artillery firings on Friday, both Koreas fired shells at the maritime buffer zone they established under a 2018 military agreement aimed at reducing front-line military tensions.
The agreement was intended to prevent live-fire exercises and aerial surveillance along their tense border, but the agreement is now in danger of breaking down as both Koreas have taken steps in violation of the agreement.
Experts say Kim Jong Un may accelerate weapons testing ahead of South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the US presidential elections in November. He says Kim Jong Un probably thinks a stronger weapons arsenal will allow him to extract more US concessions when diplomacy resumes.
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