The U.S. State Department has urged the end of all provocative actions once morest North Korean artillery fire. He also said that he is still open to diplomacy for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Reporter Jo Eun-jung reports.
The U.S. State Department urged the cessation of provocations on the 18th in response to North Korea’s late night artillery fire.
Vedant Patel, senior deputy spokesperson for the State Department, pointed out at a regular briefing on the 18th that he had been witnessing this happening recently in response to a request for comment on ‘North Korea’s artillery fire’.
[녹취: 파텔 부대변인] “So once more, we’ve seen this happen over the course of this week. We are aware of those reports and we call on the DPRK to cease all provocative and threatening actions.”
“We are aware of such reports,” he said.
Deputy Spokesperson Patel also said the United States remains open to diplomacy.
[녹취: 파텔 부대변인] “And we continue to believe and be open to dialogue without preconditions with the DPRK as it relates to our ultimate goal here which is the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
“We still believe in and open to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions regarding our ultimate goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Patel said.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that they observed that North Korea fired regarding 100 artillery rounds from the Jangsangot area in Hwanghae Province to the West Sea from around 10 p.m. on the 18th, and 150 artillery rounds from the Jangjeon area in Gangwon-do to the East Sea from around 11 p.m.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out that the bombing point was within the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in accordance with the ‘9.19 Military Agreement’, a clear violation of the ‘9.19 Military Agreement’.
Earlier, on the 14th, North Korea fired a total of 560 artillery rounds into the East and West Sea buffer zones.
This is Jo Eun-jung from VOA News.
