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South Korean naval personnel go on a boat patrol near Yeonpyeongdo island as marines conduct live fire exercise on the island in Ongjin county, off Incheon, west of Seoul yesterday |
The defence ministry said the Marine Corps—which guards “frontline” islands near the flashpoint border—began the exercise at about 0100 GMT and ended it before noon.
About 1,400 civilians living on the islands were evacuated to bomb shelters during the drill, a local official said.
“No unusual movement was detected from the North Korean side during the drill, the second of its kind this year,” a ministry spokesman said, adding K-9 self-propelled howitzers, Vulcan cannon and mortars were fired.
He declined to confirm a Yonhap news agency report that the Marines fired some 5,000 rounds into South Korean waters.
The North was notified of the scheduled exercise at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Sunday. Hours afterwards its military vowed “merciless retaliatory strikes” if any shells land in waters claimed by Pyongyang.
It said Seoul “should not forget the lesson” of the bombardment of Yeonpyeong island in November 2010, which killed four South Koreans.
The North justified that attack as retaliation for the South’s live-fire exercise which allegedly dropped shells into the North’s waters.
The 2010 attack briefly sparked fears of war and triggered a major South Korean military build-up on the islands. Seoul has vowed to hit back harder, using air power, for any fresh strike. Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, said the regular exercise was held to safeguard national security and was not related to inter-Korean relations.
The drill is taking place during the delicate transition period following the death in December of the North’s longtime leader Kim Jong-il, who was succeeded by his young and untested son Jong-un. Jong-un “faces a tough task in shattering this perception that he is a young, weak and inexperienced leader”, said Paik Hak-Soon of South Korea’s Sejong Institute think-tank who criticised the timing of the exercise.
“So he’s more likely to take bold, unannounced military actions to break such a perception,” Paik said. “So the South right now is taking a lot of risk as far as I see.” Jang Yong-Seok, from the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said the North is trying to sway public opinion in the South before April’s parliamentary election.
It “is trying to make it look as if the South’s current administration is to blame for all inter-Korean military tension,” Jang told Yonhap. AFP