S Korea starts live-fire drill
S KOREA: South Korea launched a live-fire military exercise on a
border island Monday, despite North Korean threats of deadly
retaliation, as UN diplomacy on the regional crisis broke down.
But in an apparent sign of compromise over its nuclear ambitions, CNN
said North Korea had agreed with US troubleshooter Bill Richardson to
permit the return of UN atomic inspectors to ease tensions on the
peninsula.
“The drill has started,” a Ministry spokesman told AFP around 2:30 pm
(0530 GMT). An AFP photographer sheltering in a bunker on Yeonpyeong
island confirmed he heard the sound of artillery.
“Our armed forces are now on alert and jet fighters are on airborne
alert,” the ministry spokesman said.
Yonhap news agency said two destroyers had also been deployed in
forward positions in the Yellow Sea.
An emergency UN Security Council meeting failed to agree a statement
on the crisis, and Russia warned that the international community was
now left without “a game plan” to counter escalating tensions.
After a similar exercise by marines based on Yeonpyeong on November
23, the North fired some 170 shells onto or around the island, killing
four people including civilians and damaging dozens of homes.
The North disputes the Yellow Sea border drawn by United Nations
forces after the 1950-53 Korean War. It claims the waters around
Yeonpyeong as its own.
The North’s military appears to be preparing for a counter-attack,
removing covers from coastal artillery guns and forward-deploying some
batteries, a military source told Yonhap.
But CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer, who is travelling with Richardson
in Pyongyang, said there were signs of deal-making.
Yeonpyeong Island, Monday, AFP |