N. Korea fires artillery onto S. Korean island, killing 2+

SEOUL, Nov. 23 Kyodo -
North Korea fired dozens of rounds of artillery onto a South Korean island near
the tense western sea border on Tuesday, killing two South Korean soldiers and
warning of further strikes, the South Korean military said.
The artillery shells, fired from positions in North Korea, started falling on
Yeonpyeong island and surrounding waters around 2:34 p.m., said Col. Lee Bung
Woo, spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that some 100 shells landed on
and near Yeonpyeong island, which lies about 3 kilometers south of the Yellow
Sea border, until 4:42 p.m., according to the South's Yonhap News Agency.
The South responded with about 80 rounds. Lt. Gen. Lee Hong Ki, who in charge
of military operation at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the North was expected
to have suffered ''extensive damage'' as a result of the South's fire.
Lee Hong Ki confirmed that two marines stationed at the island's Howitzer
installation died from related injuries while being transported to a hospital
in Seoul by helicopter, according to Yonhap. Five were seriously injured and 10
others suffered minor injuries, he said. Three civilians on the island were
also reported to have been hurt.
Reading a statement, Lee Hong Ki rapped North Korea's attack as a ''planned and
intentional military provocation'' and said it violated the armistice agreement
that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
In a communique carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the North's
top military command accused the South Korean military of initiating the
exchange by shooting toward its side during the regular military drills.
The military command threatened to launch ''merciless'' strikes against South
Korea if Seoul continues the military drills in the tense western sea border.
According to Yonhap, South Korean military officials denied provoking the North
and said the firing drill was conducted 20-30 kilometers southwest of
Yeonpyeong.
South Korea's YTN television channel broadcast footage showing thick columns of
black smoke rising from the island, on which some 1,600 people live, mostly
fishermen.
Defense Minister Kim Tae Young said that the South's armed forces have been
placed on heightened alert after the artillery firing. South Korean fighter
jets were scrambled to the western sea to counter the North's artillery fire.
President Lee Myung Bak ordered a stern response to North Korea's artillery
attack in an emergency meeting with his senior secretaries.
''Deal resolutely (with the attack) but make all-out efforts not to aggravate
the situation,'' the president was quoted as saying before presiding over the
emergency meeting of security-related ministers at an underground bunker of the
presidential office.
He ordered his military Tuesday to strike North Korea's missile base around its
coastline artillery positions if it shows signs of additional provocation, his
spokeswoman said, according to Yonhap.
Washington said in a statement that the United States ''strongly condemns'' the
attack and calls on Pyongyang to stop the action and abide by the armistice
agreement.
The statement also confirmed the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea
as well as to maintaining regional peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
China urged the two Koreas to exercise restraint and not to escalate tension on
the Korean Peninsula.
''We hope related parties to take action conductive to peace and stability in
the Korean Peninsula,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a
news conference. ''We are concerned about the issue.''
Yonhap quoted a spokesman for Incheon Metropolitan City, to which Yeonpyeong
island belongs, as saying the island was in a state of chaos after the
shelling.
''The entire Yeonpyeong island was blacked out following the North Korean
attacks. Mountain fires were also spreading across the island,'' spokesman Yoon
Kwan Seok was quoted as saying in an emergency media briefing.
''At least 50 artillery shells fell on the island, injuring at least four
residents and setting civilian houses on fire. All of the island's 1,600-odd
residents were evacuated to a shelter,'' Yoon added, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the South's Unification Ministry said South Korea has indefinitely
postponed Red Cross talks with North Korea, scheduled for Thursday, in response
to the attack.
''We decided it would be inappropriate to hold Red Cross talks under the
current circumstances in which the North has fired artillery shells on
Yeonpyeong island,'' a ministry official was quoted as saying in a report by
Yonhap.
At the Red Cross talks previously set to take place in a South Korean border
town, the two sides were to discuss arranging additional rounds of temporary
reunions of separated families.
==Kyodo
2010-11-23 23:10:38