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South Korea War Drills To Continue Despite North Korea Threats



YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea — Yonhap news agency says South Korea has ended maritime artillery drills from a front-line island attacked last month by North Korea.

South Korea said it launched fighter jets to deter any North Korean attacks during the hour-long drills on Yeonpyeong. There were no immediate signs of any North Korean retaliation.

The island was shelled by the North after similar drills last month. Two marines and two civilians were killed.

The North considers the waters around Yeonpyeong its territory and has threatened to retaliate for any new drills.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) – South Korea fired live artillery Monday in a drill from a front-line island where similar exercises sparked a deadly North Korean bombardment last month, pressing forward in defiance of the North's warnings to attack again.

The South sent fighter jets to skies along the border to deter any new North Korean attack and evacuated island residents to underground bunkers, nearly a month after the North's shelling of Yeongpyeong island killed two marines and two civilians. The North has said it would respond even more harshly to any new drills from the Yellow Sea island.

U.N. diplomats meeting in New York failed to find any solution to ease fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. Hours later, Seoul's Defense Ministry said the drills were under way on the tiny enclave of fishing communities and military bases about seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores.

An Associated Press Television News cameraman heard the sounds of explosions Monday afternoon.

The North considers waters around Yeonpyeong its own territory. Similar drills on Nov. 23 sparked the North's artillery barrage that marked its first attack targeting civilian areas since the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea's military said ahead of Monday's drills that it will "immediately and sternly" deal with any provocation. Fighter jets were flying over South Korean airspace on a mission to deter North Korean attacks, a Defense Ministry official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Residents, local officials and journalists Yeonpyeong and four other islands were ordered to evacuate to underground shelters because of possible attacks by North Korea, Ongjin County government spokesman Won Ji-young said.

In South Korea's Gyeonggi Province near the capital, 42 residents of farming communities near the tense land border were evacutated and were to stay in an area farther south until after the drills are finished, a provincial official said. The official refused to give his name because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

It wasn't immediately known whether other front-line villagers were ordered to move south.

On Yeonpyeong, residents filed into an underground shelter after authorities announced the drill and huddled on the floor as a South Korean soldier showed them how to use a gas mask, according to footage shot by Associated Press Television News.

"I feel the same as last Nov. 23, when North Korea fired artillery at us," said Oh Gui-nam, a 70-year-old island resident. "My emotions are all tangled up."

The Defense Ministry said the artillery drills would last about two hours and involve several types of weapons, including K-9 self-propelled guns, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters, according to his office.

Ahead of the planned drills, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday asked all South Koreans to be more united and vigilant about North Korea.

"The highest-level of national security comes from unity among the people," Lee said in a previously scheduled meeting with home affairs officials, according to Lee's office. North Korea provokes South Korea when "our public opinion is divided," Lee said.

The North had warned of a "catastrophe" if South Korea goes ahead with the drills. The North says it warned South Korea before last month's shelling not to conduct similar live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong.

The U.N. Security Council failed Sunday to agree on a statement to address rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States and other council members demanded that the council condemn North Korea for two deadly attacks this year that have helped send relations to their lowest point in decades. But diplomats said China strongly objected.

After eight hours of closed-door consultations Sunday, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who called the emergency council meeting, told reporters "we were not successful in bridging all the bridges."

Although some countries still need to consult capitals, Rice said "the gaps that remain are unlikely to be bridged."

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