Another day, another defiant weapons test from North Korea, AP reported. A day after launching two ballistic missiles from a base near the border with archrival South Korea, Pyongyang on Monday fired a barrage of artillery shells into waters near its eastern sea border with the South. Officials in Seoul have confirmed nearly 100 missile, rocket and artillery tests by North Korea this year, an output seen as significantly higher than past years. On Monday, about 100 shells fired from land-based multiple rocket launch systems and coastal artillery guns landed north of the Koreas' maritime border. Those shells flew about 3 to 50 kilometers (1.9 to 31 miles), and South Korea didn't return fire because no shells fell in its waters, according to South Korean defense and military officials. The eastern sea border is clearly marked compared with the Koreas' disputed western sea boundary, where the rivals have engaged in several bloody skirmishes in recent years. The Koreas exchanged artillery fire twice earlier this year near the western sea boundary.
