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This photo, released by North Korean state media on Oct. 10, 2022, shows artillery exercises carried out by the North’s military for which leader Kim Jong-un gave on-site guidance. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea conducted live-fire drills along its western coast from Friday through Sunday. The North’s Kim Yo-jong claimed on Saturday that the explosions were part of a “deceptive operation” designed to test the South’s reaction rather than drills. South Korea’s military declared that the drills were nothing more than “low-level psychological warfare.”    

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff released a statement on Sunday stating that from around 4 pm to 5:10 pm that day, North Korea had fired over 90 artillery shells near the northern border of Yeonpyeong Island.

“We are keeping a close eye on the provocations from North Korea, which are expected as we approach this year’s general election, and have adopted a broad-gauge military readiness posture,” the Joint Chiefs added. 

“In any instance of provocation from the enemy, we will respond swiftly and definitively with great force,” the Joint Chiefs warned. 

The Joint Chiefs clarified that the North’s shells did not land south of the North Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border. 

On Friday, North Korea fired over 200 artillery shells from its Changsan Cape, just north of Baengnyeong Island. The shells mostly splashed into the maritime buffer zone, coming as close to 7 kilometers of the NLL. The following day, the Joint Chiefs announced that North Korea had fired over 60 shells into waters northwest of Yeonpyeong Island.

Kim Yo-jong, the vice department director of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, wrote in a statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday that the Korean People’s Army has “watched the reaction of the ROK military gangsters while detonating blasting powder simulating the sound of 130 mm coastal artillery for 60 times.” 

Saying that the South had “misjudged” the sound to be gunfire and called it a provocation, Kim went on to claim that South Korea “made a false and impudent statement that the shells dropped in the sea buffer zone north of the ‘northern limit line’ in the West Sea.”

The “military gangsters” in South Korea, “quickly took the bait we threw,” she went on.  

In short, Kim claims that the drills were nothing more than explosives designed to imitate the sound of artillery, and Seoul fell for Pyongyang’s ploy.

Addressing South Korea’s declaration of a swift and definitive response to any military provocations, Kim brazenly responded, “The military gangsters should bear in mind that they can ‘die instantly and forcefully and [to a permanent] end’ if they continue to resort to the so-called principle of counteraction such as ‘promptly, strongly and to the end’ often touted by them.” 

On the same day, the state-run Korean Central Television broadcasted a 44-second video of explosions, claiming it was footage of the People’s Army’s “deceptive operation.”  

The Joint Chiefs brushed off Kim’s claims as a “low-level psychological operation” regarding the South Korean military’s capacity to detect provocations and threats. 

“It’s propaganda that’s so cheap it’s comedic. A typical North Korean ploy that only erodes their credibility and attempts to stir up conflict between two unrelated parties,” the Joint Chiefs added. 

Since the nullification of the buffer-creating Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement signed in 2018, the probability of continuous psychological warfare and shows of military force from North Korea has become increasingly high. 

“Now that the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement is no longer being adhered to, North Korea has much more room to maneuver, and is taking advantage of that opportunity,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies. 

“The current situation is even worse than before the military agreement,” Kim added.

By Shin Hyeong-cheol, staff reporter

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