Yeonpyeong Island, North Korea Island

North Korea has fired more than 200 rounds of artillery shells off its west coast, towards the South's Yeonpyeong Island.

Yeonpyeong Island – It is home to a military base and a small civilian population of about 2,000 people in South Korea.

Geography – It lies 3km (2 miles) from the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea and 12km from the North Korean coast.

Yeonpyeong Island is close to what is known as the ‘Northern Limit Line,’ the de facto maritime border that separates the two Koreas.

• Military events – It has been the scene of inter-Korean naval clashes over the years
• In 2010, 2 soldiers and 2 civilians were killed after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells towards the island.
• 2024 firing – The fired shells did not enter South Korean territory as they all landed in the buffer zone between the 2 countries.
• While there is no damage to people or military in South Korea, it threatens peace on the Korean peninsula and raises tensions.
• Reaction of South Korea – It ordered civilians to seek shelter on the island before holding live fire drills of its own.
• Response by North Korea – It says that its firing drills off the west coast were a natural response to large-scale military actions by its neighbour.

North Korea and South Korea are formally still at war, as the Korean War in 1953 ended with an armistice and not a formal peace treaty.