The Hankyoreh reported: “North Korea fired some 100 artillery rounds toward South Korean waters and an island near the tense West Sea on Tuesday, killing two marines and leaving at least 15 others wounded, five of them critically, South Korea’s military reported.”
A subsequent article described the factors that may have contributed to the attack:
Prior to the incident, the South Korean military carried out a firing exercise probably related to the Hoguk Exercise in the area around Yeonpyeong Island and Baengnyeong Island at 10 a.m. North Korea had voiced strong objections to the Hoguk Exercise, a large-scale military drill that South Korea says enhances its military command capabilities.
Officials from the Joint Chiefs said that North Korea sent a message Tuesday morning that it would not tolerate firing in its territorial waters. The South Korean military also sent a message in the name of the head delegate for inter-Korean military talks calling on North Korea to cease firing.
The South Korean military returned fire with K-9 self-propelled guns at a North Korean coastal artillery base at 2:47 p.m. They fired again at the North Korean artillery launch point at 3:25 p.m. after North Korea resumed fire. The South Korean military said it launched about 80 rounds. It also declared “Jindo Dog 1,” the highest alert status, in the area around the five West Coast Islands.
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North Korean top military command said in a press release Tuesday, “South Korea carried out a military provocation by firing into North Korea’s territorial waters near Yeonpyeong Island at 1 p.m. Tuesday, despite receiving repeated warnings. The military of North Korea took firm military measures to respond to the South Korean provocations with an immediate and strong physical strike.”
The Hankyoreh also reported that the Hoguk military exercises included U.S. troops:
The Hoguk Exercise in question involve 70 thousand South Korean armed forces troops, 600 tracked vehicles, 90 helicopters, 50 warships, and 500 aircraft. The U.S. military is contributing the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and 7th Air Force to the land and air training exercises, respectively. Pyongyang regards the exercises as training for an attack on North Korea, citing the fact that it is a large-scale joint South Korea-U.S. exercise encompassing naval fleets, air forces, and land exercises.
News reports now indicate that four South Koreans were killed by the shelling. It is unclear if there were any North Korean casualties.
President Obama pledged to stand with South Korea and called on China to help restrain North Korea. But the U.S. also announced that it was ratcheting up the tension by holding joint war games in the Yellow Sea:
Seoul and Washington reaffirmed plans to hold joint military exercises later this week in the Yellow Sea, just 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Yeonpyeong. The White House said the aircraft carrier USS George Washington would take part.
Such military exercises so close to North Korea can only exacerbate the conflict. Mahalo to Sung-Hee Choi for sharing these links.
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Source: http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/450182.html
N.Korea fires artillery shells toward Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines
S.Korea has returned fire in the first inter-Korean artillery battle since 1970
By Park Jung-eon, Senior Staff Writer
North Korea fired some 100 artillery rounds toward South Korean waters and an island near the tense West Sea on Tuesday, killing two marines and leaving at least 15 others wounded, five of them critically, South Korea’s military reported.
The artillery shells from North Korea’s artillery troops at the west coast stronghold near the border fell at 2:34 p.m. in South Korea’s waters off the island of Yeonpyeong, some of them landing directly on the island, said Col. Lee Bung-woo, spokesman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). South Korea’s military responded by firing 80 rounds of K-9 artillery and deployed F-15K fighter jets to the island, while putting the military on its highest peacetime alert. JCS officials said South Korea’s military sent a telephone message to North Korea urging them to stop the shelling. This marked the first artillery battle exchanging firing since 1970.
JCS Chairman Han Min-koo and Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of some 28,500 U.S. troops in the South, held telephone talks and agreed to consider declaring a “joint crisis management,” the JCS spokesman said.
According to the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House), President Lee Myung-bak told his aides to respond strictly to the attack but carefully manage the situation to prevent the escalation of the clash before presiding over an emergency meeting of security-related ministers at an underground bunker of the presidential office.
North Korea fired the artillery during South Korea’s military drill called the Hoguk Exercise on Nov. 22-30 that involves 70,000 South Korean military troops, 50 warships, 90 helicopters and 500 planes. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Seventh Air Force will also participate in the exercise.
North Korea has condemned the annual exercise and warned they would fire shots, while South Korea has called it an exercise to enhance its military command capabilities. Observers said North Korea has strongly opposed to this exercise, an upgraded version of Team Spirit, saying that the large scale joint military exercise, including warships, air force and landing training, is aimed at attack on North Korea.
North Korea’s top military command threatened to continue “merciless” strikes on South Korea in a statement by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, while accusing South Korea’s military of initiating the exchange by shooting toward its side.
Two marines were killed and five soldiers were seriously wounded, while ten soldiers and civilians were reportedly wounded by the attack. Yeonpyeong Island was engulfed in thick smoke when fire spread on a mountain and homes and forest were ablaze in fire. Some 1,600 residents at Yeonpyeong Island were all evacuated to shelters and suffered a blackout from the power outage.
The western sea near the border has been the scene of bloody gun battles between the navies of North Korea and South Korea that took place in 1999, 2002 and in November of last year.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]