S. Korea begins live-fire drills
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2010, Tuesday
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South Korean troops pushed ahead with naval firing drills yesterday, the day after North Korea warned the exercises would aggravate tensions between the rivals following North Korea's deadly shelling of a front-line South Korean island.
North Korea said it unleashed the November 23 artillery fire after Seoul went ahead with routine live-fire drills despite Pyongyang's warnings to call off the military exercises. North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn in 1953 by the US-led United Nations forces, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong, which lies just 11 kilometers from its shores, its territory.
The attack killed two marines and two civilian construction workers.
Yesterday, the South Korean army launched a new round of artillery exercises set to continue to Sunday, army and Joint Chiefs of Staff officials said.
The previously scheduled drills were to take place at some 30 sites off the coast throughout the week, but there were none along the disputed western sea border yesterday, the officials said. Warships will join the drills later in the week, the navy said.
Similar live-fire drills will also take place next week, officials said.
On Sunday, North Korea warned that the drills were causing "uncontrollable, extreme" tension on the peninsula.
"The South Korean puppet group, far from drawing a lesson from the deserved punishment it faced for its reckless firing of shells into the territorial waters of the (North Korean) side around Yeonpyeong Island, is getting more frantic in military provocations and war moves," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.
South Korea said its forces had fired away from North Korea in last month's drills.
President Lee Myung-bak, acting on criticism that troops acted too slowly and too timidly to the North Korean attack, yesterday pledged to reform the military.
"The South Korean people believe our military has to change," Lee said at a meeting on military reform. "What the military needs now is (increased) mental strength."
National security is at a "critical juncture," Kim Kwan-jin, South Korea's new defense minister, told reporters. He said he would focus on boosting the military's morale and discipline. The previous defense chief resigned in the wake of the shelling.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik announced 30 billion won (US$27 million) to help rebuild shattered Yeonpyeong Island.
Most of the 1,300 civilians on the island had left and many were living in a public bathhouse in the port city of Incheon that had been converted into a refugee center.
North Korea said it unleashed the November 23 artillery fire after Seoul went ahead with routine live-fire drills despite Pyongyang's warnings to call off the military exercises. North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn in 1953 by the US-led United Nations forces, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong, which lies just 11 kilometers from its shores, its territory.
The attack killed two marines and two civilian construction workers.
Yesterday, the South Korean army launched a new round of artillery exercises set to continue to Sunday, army and Joint Chiefs of Staff officials said.
The previously scheduled drills were to take place at some 30 sites off the coast throughout the week, but there were none along the disputed western sea border yesterday, the officials said. Warships will join the drills later in the week, the navy said.
Similar live-fire drills will also take place next week, officials said.
On Sunday, North Korea warned that the drills were causing "uncontrollable, extreme" tension on the peninsula.
"The South Korean puppet group, far from drawing a lesson from the deserved punishment it faced for its reckless firing of shells into the territorial waters of the (North Korean) side around Yeonpyeong Island, is getting more frantic in military provocations and war moves," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.
South Korea said its forces had fired away from North Korea in last month's drills.
President Lee Myung-bak, acting on criticism that troops acted too slowly and too timidly to the North Korean attack, yesterday pledged to reform the military.
"The South Korean people believe our military has to change," Lee said at a meeting on military reform. "What the military needs now is (increased) mental strength."
National security is at a "critical juncture," Kim Kwan-jin, South Korea's new defense minister, told reporters. He said he would focus on boosting the military's morale and discipline. The previous defense chief resigned in the wake of the shelling.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik announced 30 billion won (US$27 million) to help rebuild shattered Yeonpyeong Island.
Most of the 1,300 civilians on the island had left and many were living in a public bathhouse in the port city of Incheon that had been converted into a refugee center.
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