N. Korea warns South on war games

Seoul, Friday

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Two killed as N. Korea fires at the south N.Korea shells fall on S.Korea island, causing injuries: Two dead as North Korea fires artillery barrage on South N.Korea apparently stages artillery firing drill: Seoul

North Korea staged an artillery drill today within earshot of a South Korean island shelled earlier this week, and warned that an upcoming US-South Korean naval exercise heightens the risk of war.

The distant sound of the latest shelling sent jittery residents of Yeonpyeong island, targeted in a deadly North Korean bombardment on Tuesday, scrambling for air raid shelters.

South Korea said it appeared to be an exercise and no shells landed on its territory.

The top US commander in South Korea, General Walter Sharp, visited Yeonpyeong during the brief panic.

He denounced Tuesday's attack on the border island — which killed two civilians and two marines, injured 18 and set buildings ablaze — as a violation of the armistice which ended the 1950-53 war.

The bombardment was also the first to hit civilian areas in the South since the war and sparked widespread anger. Seoul's allegedly feeble response also drew strong criticism.

The presidency was screening candidates to replace Kim Tae-Young, who resigned Thursday as defence minister to take responsibility.

A US aircraft carrier battle group was heading for the Yellow Sea for the four-day drill starting Sunday, a show of force designed to deter the North.

Pyongyang, unrepentant over its barrage, criticised "the US imperialists and South Korean puppet war-like forces" for what it called an exercise in "sabre-rattling".

"The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again the war exercises targeted against the (North)," its official news agency said.

Pyongyang has used such language frequently in the past. It was unclear whether it would take any measures to try to disrupt the drill — which has also been criticised by the North's sole major ally China.

The US military says the exercise is defensive and had been planned well before the North's "unprovoked artillery attack," but that it demonstrated the US "commitment to regional stability through deterrence".

The South now plans to send more troops and guns to five frontline islands. (AFP)

Source: Breaking News, Kenya