In what President Yoon Suk-yeol described as "essentially a territorial invasion," North Korea fired more than 10 missiles on Wednesday, one of which came down close to South Korea's territorial waters.
In what experts claimed was part of a "aggressive and threatening" response by Pyongyang to the extensive joint air maneuvers that the United States and South Korea are presently conducting, it also fired an artillery barrage into a sea "buffer zone."
One short-range ballistic missile breached the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two nations, leading to an unusual warning for Ulleungdo people to take refuge in bunkers.
When hostilities in the Korean War came to an end in 1953, the military claimed it was the "first time since the peninsula was divided" that a North Korean missile had come thus near to the South's territorial waters.
In a statement released by his office, it was noted that President Yoon "pointed out today that North Korea's provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile that over the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the divide."
The military reported that the missile that was closest to South Korea fell in waters barely 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of the mainland, calling the occurrence "extremely unusual and intolerable."
Soon after, the South Korean military claimed it had launched three air-to-ground missiles into the water in the direction of the northern portion of the maritime border between the two nations.
Ulleungdo received an air attack warning following the North Korean missile launch. The warning instructed citizens to "evacuate to the nearest underground shelter" and was broadcast on national television.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean military first claimed to have discovered the launch of three short-range ballistic missiles.
However, it later reported that North Korea had launched "different varieties" of missiles, numbering over 10, "today toward the east and west."
The National Security Council was convened by President Yoon, who gave the directive to take "rapid and stern actions so that North Korea's provocations pay a clear price."
In order to "ensure passenger safety in the flights to," South Korea restricted some air routes over the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
