South Korea holds #Yeonpyeong artillery drill. #south #north #korea

South Korea holds Yeonpyeong artillery drill

 

 

 The South Korean military has been holding live-firing exercises on Yeonpyeong island - the scene of a deadly attack by the North last month.

Pyongyang had threatened to retaliate if the drills went ahead.

Four people were killed when the North shelled the island during a similar drill last month.

The UN Security Council discussed the situation in New York, but failed to reach any agreement. China and Russia called on Seoul to halt the drill.

The South's government has been under huge domestic pressure to take a tough stance towards Pyongyang, in the wake of the 23 November shelling by the North.

The issue has threatened to divide permanent members of the Security Council - with China and Russia urging South Korea to put off the exercise, but the US saying its ally is entitled to make sure it is "properly prepared in the face of... ongoing provocations".

Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the international community had been left without a "game plan" to deal with tensions on the peninsula.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the drills, which began at 1430 (530 GMT), ended after about an hour, but witnesses said the firing was continuing.

Before the firing began, southern military officials said the artillery guns on Yeonpyeong would be aimed south-west, away from North Korea.

But the North claimed any ammunition fired would inevitably land in its territorial waters.

'Self-defensive blow'

Yeonpyeong residents were told to move into air-raid shelters early on Monday - part of regular procedure during military exercises in the area.

Vitaly Churkin: "We reiterated the call for restraint"

Heavy fog delayed the start of the drill.

Pyongyang had said it would retaliate if the exercise went ahead.

The island is close to the two countries' disputed sea border, the Northern Limit Line, and within view of the North Korean mainland.

Pyongyang said it would deal an "unpredictable self-defensive blow" at the South Koreans.

For its part, South Korea said it would "immediately and sternly" deal with any North Korean response, according to an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Tightrope

An unofficial US envoy - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson - is in North Korea and has held several meetings with senior officials there. The situation is "very, very tense, a crisis situation", he told CNN.

He was speaking after meeting North Korean Maj Gen Pak Rim-su, who leads North Korean forces along the border with the South.

That meeting was "very tough", but "some progress" was made, Mr Richardson said.

"They said there would be a response, but at the same time they hope a UN Security Council resolution would tamp down the situation. It was very clear they were very upset by the potential exercise," he told CNN from Pyongyang.

He suggested a military hotline be set up to address incidents along their border.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says the Obama administration is in a tough spot, as the US has 28,000 troops stationed in the South and it would almost certainly be drawn in if hostilities erupt.

The US is walking a diplomatic tightrope, trying to avoid that unfavourable option while remaining a strong ally to the South, our correspondent adds.

In the event of an attack from the North, the South's Air Force would put its F-15K and KF-16 fighters on emergency standby, Yonhap quoted the JCS as saying.

The island is normally home to some 1,300 residents along with hundreds of marines, but most civilians have fled to the mainland, leaving only about 100 remaining, Yonhap said.