Koreas conduct drills, escalating animosities

The rival Koreas fired artillery rounds into the sea as part of provocative drills along their disputed sea boundary on Friday, in violation of the fragile 2018 inter-Korean agreement, and threatened strong responses against each other if provoked.

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The development is expected to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The last two years have seen North Korea performing a record number of missile tests and South Korea and the US expanding their defence exercises in a tit-for-tat cycle.

Experts say North Korea will likely intensify a run of weapons tests ahead of the US presidential election in November.