South Korea to resume live artillery drills

South Korean Marines on guard use a radio after sounds of distant artillery fire were heard on Yeonpyeong Island, on Nov. 26, 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155344.html


South Korea is holding live artillery exercises for a second week, despite warnings from North Korea that the military drills could spark a “nuclear war.”

The drills are set to run from Monday through Friday at 27 sites including 15 on the Yellow Sea coast where a North Korean artillery attack killed four South Koreans two weeks ago.

South Korea also urged its citizens to pay closer than usual attention to this month's nationwide civil defense drill scheduled for this Wednesday.

The South holds a civil defense drill once a month but authorities called for closer cooperation in the face of recently heightened tensions on the peninsula.

The civil drill will focus on directing South Koreans to the nation's thousands of underground shelters while about 12 jet fighters will simulate air strikes overhead, AFP reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday that his country will be patient in pressing for six-way talks with North Korea in an effort to ease tensions between the two Koreas.

A US military delegation was in Seoul for one-day talks on Monday. The US deputy assistant secretary of defense, Michael Schiffer, reiterated its military support for South Korea following the meeting.

Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday for a private visit.

A November 23 artillery barrage, the North's first assault to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, began after the North accused South Korea of having fired the salvo toward its territorial waters.

South Korea said it had fired shells southwards, not towards North Korea, as part of routine exercises.

After the attack, South Korea staged joint military drills with the United States and pushed ahead with more artillery exercises despite the North's warning that they would aggravate tension.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer tried to play down the significance of this week's drills, saying they were part of routine military exercises and would not occur near the disputed western Korean sea border.