North Korea fires artillery barrage into maritime buffer zone of South Korea, Seoul says it is effectively territorial invasion

South Korea’s military today said that North Korea fired an artillery barrage into a maritime “buffer zone” overnight after a record-breaking blitz of launches that included a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test.

In a statement, South Korea’s Joints Chiefs of Staff said about 80 artillery rounds were fired into the “buffer zone.” South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said it was effectively a territorial invasion.

Pyongyang’s tests follow Seoul and Washington’s announcement on Thursday to extended their largest-ever joint air drills through Saturday.

Pyongyang has called the joint air drills, dubbed Vigilant Storm, an aggressive and provocative military drill targeting North Korea. It threatened that Washington and Seoul would pay the most horrible price in history if it continued.

Earlier, Pyongyang fired about 30 missiles throughout Wednesday and Thursday, including one that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

In addition to extending Vigilant Storm through Saturday, the Seoul military announced that the Taegeuk exercise, an annual drill focusing on “improving wartime transition performance” and crisis management would be held next week.