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Seoul: North Korea fires suspected artillery shells into sea

People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea's missile launch with file footage, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, June 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea's missile launch with file footage, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, June 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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SEOUL, South Korea -

North Korea test-fired what appeared to be artillery shells toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea鈥檚 military said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for greater defence capability to cope with outside threats.

South Korea鈥檚 Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several flight trajectories believed to be North Korean artillery on Sunday morning. It said in the statement that South Korea maintains a firm military readiness in close coordination with the United States amid boosted surveillance on North Korea.

During a national security council meeting convened to discuss the launches, South Korean officials expressed concern that North Korea is upgrading weapons systems that pose a direct threat to South Korea and reaffirmed they would sternly deal with such North Korean efforts, according to South Korea's presidential office.

The North鈥檚 artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns are a serious security threat to South Korea's populous metropolitan region, which is only 40-50 kilometres from the border with North Korea.

The suspected artillery launches were the latest in a spate of weapons tests by North Korea this year in what foreign experts call an attempt to pressure its rivals Washington and Seoul to relax international sanctions against Pyongyang and make other concessions.

South Korean and U.S. officials recently said North Korea had almost completed preparations for its first nuclear test in about five years. In March, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. in breach of a 2018 moratorium on big missile tests.

In a speech at a ruling party meeting last week, Kim underscored the need to strengthen his country鈥檚 military capability, saying the current security environment is 鈥渧ery serious.鈥

Kim鈥檚 speech carried by state media didn鈥檛 mention the United States or South Korea. But he still set forth 鈥渕ilitant tasks鈥 to be pursued by his armed forces and scientists, a suggestion that he would press ahead with his high-profile arms buildup plans.

A possible new nuclear test by North Korea would be the seventh of its kind. Some experts say North Korea will likely use the test to build warheads to be mounted on tactical nuclear weapons aimed at hitting targets in South Korea.

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