North Korea's Artillery Firing and Taiwan Strengthens Defenses #northkoreanews #drill #southkorea

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen again. On the night of October 18th, North Korea fired about 250 artillery shells into the eastern and western waters, and on October 19th, it fired another 100 shells into the western waters, leading to strong protests from South Korea. The South Korean and US forces jointly conducted drills to build a pontoon bridge for tanks and other armored vehicles to cross a river. The outside world speculates that this may be the reason for the North Korean artillery fire. The recent comments by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline have led to widespread concern and discussion about the situation in the Taiwan Strait. The situation on the Korean peninsula continues to heat up. The media reports that at noon on October 19th, North Korea fired more than 100 artillery shells into the western waters. Just a few hours earlier on the evening of October 18th, North Korea had fired about 250 projectiles into the eastern and western waters. These shells landed in the buffer zone defined by South Korea and North Korea and didn't enter South Korean territorial waters. During this period, the South Korean military repeatedly used communication channels to warn the North Koreans to immediately stop the provocative behavior and that it was a violation of the comprehensive military agreement signed in 2018 between the two countries. The North Korean side claims that the move was a response and countermeasure to the 10 plus multiple rockets fired by South Korea in the morning. South Korea and the US however said the exercise was defensive in nature and necessary to deter North Korea. South Korea together with the US military in Korea launched a 12-day protect the nation exercise on Monday, October 17th to enhance its ability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. This ROK-US joint river crossing drill which was conducted as part of the HOGUK exercise represents a bridge of the solid ROK-US alliance that could protect the lives and safety of our people from North Korea's threat in the case of emergency and we can see it as a shortcut to a victory. On October 19th, the US and South Korean forces conducted a joint river crossing exercise with about 1,000 troops. The exercise was a response drill assuming damage to the bridge over the Han river and the South Korean army deployed armored offensive units to participate. So we've been doing a combined wet gap crossing operation where the US and ROK will work together to raft vehicles and then build a full enclosure bridge across any wet gap. Most likely a bridge or a river with bridges going out. Taiwan army drill in Penghu. On October 19th, the Taiwan army's Penghu defense command conducted a frontier drill to simulate the Chinese Communist Party's lockdown of Taiwan and the communist army's advance on Taiwan's defense zone with the participation of combat vehicles, armored vehicles, and a variety of artillery and precision ammunition. It's reported that the frontier drill is a monthly live fire training in response to the ongoing threat from the Chinese Communist Party or CCP. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that On October 17th, at a Hoover Institution event at Stanford University, Blinken criticized the CCP for changing its approach to Taiwan in recent years, saying Beijing could no longer accept the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline. Although Blinken didn't specifically explain the his remarks sparked widespread discussion. A Pentagon spokesman wouldn't comment when asked about the issue. But he said the US continues to view China as an advancing threat and continues to work closely with allies and partners to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region. In a newly published book by a former Taiwan captain, he predicts that provided five prerequisites, that is, if the CCP is not engaged in a major war like the Korean War or a bloody internal struggle like the Cultural Revolution, if there is no massive global outbreak with a heavy death toll, if China's economy continues to grow steadily, if Xi Jinping is re-elected to a fourth term, and if Taiwan doesn't step on the red line of Taiwan independence, the latest time frame for the Communist Party to unify Taiwan by force is around 2032, but it may be sooner.