What’s behind latest hair-trigger escalation of tensions between North and South Korea?

What’s behind latest hair-trigger escalation of tensions between North and South Korea?

For the third day in a row, Seoul accused Pyongyang of firing artillery shells near the disputed sea boundary near South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. “Residents are advised to be careful about outdoor activities,” authorities warned on Sunday. South Korean forces held drills in the same maritime area earlier in the week.

Kim Yo Jong, senior aide and sister to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned Seoul and its allies against any provocations, saying that “misjudgment, conjecture, perversity and miswriting will precipitate irretrievable calamity.”

South Korea and its US allies launched their own provocative live fire drills along the border earlier in the week. An ROK military spokesman said Saturday those drills were aimed at establishing a “joint war-fighting posture that can punish the enemy immediately.”

Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have deteriorated significantly between 2021 and 2022 with the election of new governments in the US and South Korea which did away with the personalized diplomacy of their predecessors aimed at easing tensions along the highly militarized peninsula.

Iraqi and Iranian forces hold joint drills in the port of Arvand Kenar, southwest Iran, to commemorate commanders Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.