S. Korea stages live-fire drill near sea border

SOUTH KOREA: South Korean Marines staged a live-fire exercise Wednesday near the disputed Yellow Sea border with North Korea amid high tensions over a display of front-line Christmas lights.

The exercise involving self-propelled howitzers and a multiple rocket launch system was held on two islands -- Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Hundreds of island residents evacuated into safe zones during the two-hour drill, but there was no response from the North, it said.

A similar drill on Yeonpyeong in 2010 provoked a North Korean artillery barrage which killed four people and sparked international alarm. The exercise came after the Marines strengthened guard around a giant display featuring thousands of glittering bulbs on a tree-shaped steel tower in Gimpo west of Seoul.

AFP