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South Korean Military Starts Live-Fire Drills

   VOA News 06 December 2010

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   South  Korean  Marines  check "Cheonma", self-propelled surface-to-air
   missile  system, on Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, near the West Sea
   border  with  North Korea, Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Lee
   Ji-un) KOREA OUT

   South  Korea's  military  says  it  has started five days of live-fire
   artillery drills in the waters on all sides of the Korean Peninsula.
   The  military has warned vessels to avoid 29 locations where firing is
   scheduled, including Daechong Island near the disputed sea border with
   North  Korea.   But  officials  declined  Monday to identify specific
   locations  where  firing  was  taking  place and media reports said no
   shells had been fired so far near the western sea border.
   A  similar  artillery  drill at another Yellow Sea island, Yeonpyeong,
   prompted  North Korea to open up an artillery barrage that killed four
   people on November 23.
   North  Korea  has  criticized  the  latest round of naval drills as an
   effort to trigger a new war.

   Seoul's  new defense minister, retired General Kim Kwan-jin, has vowed
   a  strong  military  response  if  the  Pyongyang  government launches
   another attack.
   News  agencies  earlier  quoted  South Korea's military command saying
   artillery was being fired Monday at Daechong Island. The officials did
   not explain the discrepancy.
   Top  diplomats  from  the  United States, South Korea and Japan are to
   meet   Monday   in  Washington  to  discuss  tensions  on  the  Korean
   peninsula.   All three countries have performed military exercises in
   the area since the North's attack.

   Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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