Arya News - North Korea fired 10 artillery rounds from a multiple rocket launcher, Seoul`s military said Wednesday, as Pyongyang opened a key policy meeting of ruling party officials.
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- North Korea fired 10 artillery rounds from a multiple rocket launcher, Seoul"s military said Wednesday, as Pyongyang opened a key policy meeting of ruling party officials.
"Our military detected around 10 artillery shells fired into the north of the Yellow Sea from North Korea around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.
"Under a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, the military is closely monitoring various North Korean movements and maintaining the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation," the JCS said.
Details of the launch are still being analyzed by South Korean and U.S. military intelligence, it added.
The volley coincided with the start of a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers" Party of Korea, presided over by leader Kim Jong Un.
State-run Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that delegates approved five agenda items ahead of the party"s Ninth Congress, including policy reviews and an evaluation of the Central Inspection Committee, which oversees official discipline and corruption issues.
The congress, expected in early 2026, is widely seen as a moment for Pyongyang to outline a new five-year economic plan and recalibrate its military and foreign policy priorities.
At a policy forum held in Seoul on Tuesday, analysts cautioned that the event may serve to cement a hard-line posture toward South Korea.
Yang Moo-jin, chair professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said Kim could introduce new territorial language and "reframe inter-Korean provisions around hostility management and wartime readiness."
Others at the event, held by the state-funded Institute of National Security Strategy, said the congress will likely be used to further consolidate the leader"s authority.
"North Korea will use the Ninth Party Congress to promote Chairman Kim"s leadership status and symbolize absolute authority, accelerating the "Kim Jong Un revolutionary ideology" throughout society," Bomi Kim, director of North Korean studies at INSS, said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease inter-Korean tensions since taking office in June with conciliatory gestures such as dismantling border propaganda loudspeakers and tightening restrictions on activist balloon launches.
North Korea has dismissed the overtures, however, while continuing to conduct weapons tests.
Last month, Pyongyang fired a salvo of artillery rockets shortly before a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
The North also launched a short-range ballistic missile last month after Washington levied sanctions against individuals and entities connected with Pyongyang"s cybercrime and money laundering schemes.