South Korea has ordered the evacuation of two islands near the North Korean border after North Korea fired some 200 artillery rounds into the maritime buffer zone near one of the islands.
The North Korean artillery exercise took place Friday near Yeonpyeong-do in a contested area that is a relic of the end of the Korean War.
The red line reflects the North Korean position on the maritime border, which it articulated in 1999. According to South Korea, the United States, and the UN Command in Korea, the blue line is the border. It was created in 1953 and is called the Northern Limit Line.
This event was set into motion by a North Korean ship crossing the Northern Limit Line on Monday and being turned back by South Korean troops firing warning shots. The North Koreans fired their own warning shots in response.
North Korea later said it conducted firing drills as a “natural response” to…
