North Korea fires artillery for second day

SEOUL, Jan 28, 2010 (AFP) - North Korea fired artillery shells into the sea near its tense disputed border with South Korea for a second day Thursday, ignoring US appeals to halt the "provocative" exercise.

The shells from shore batteries landed near South Korea's Yeonpyeong island at 8:15 am (2315 GMT Wednesday), the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, but none fell in South Korean waters.

On Wednesday the North fired more than 80 shells into the sea close to the flashpoint frontier, Seoul's military said. South Korean Marines fired 100 warning shots in response that day.

No one was hurt but the incident fuelled tensions on the peninsula.

The firing, which the North describes as a routine military drill, began one day after it declared two "no sail" zones near the west coast border.

The North refuses to recognise the borderline drawn by United Nations forces after the 1950-1953 Korean War and demands it run further to the south.

The area was the scene of deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002. In the latest naval clash last November, a firefight left a North Korean patrol boat in flames.

Washington called the North's shelling "provocative", echoing an earlier protest from Seoul to its neighbour.

"The declaration by North Korea of a no sail zone and the live firing of artillery are provocative actions and as such are not helpful," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Wednesday.

South Korea's military said it had information the drill would continue into Friday.

Analysts said the North is raising tensions to show that a peace pact on the peninsula is necessary. Pyongyang wants talks with the United States on a formal treaty to end the 1950s war as a condition for returning to nuclear disarmament negotiations.

US President Barack Obama warned the North it faces growing isolation unless it abandons its nuclear weapons.

"North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions -- sanctions that are being vigorously enforced," he said in his annual State of the Union address to Congress.

Even though Pyongyang refuses to recognise the borderline, all its shells so far have landed north of it.

Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the Seoul government has decided to suspend talks with the North on economic cooperation if shells land south of the border known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

"North Koreans firing shells into southern waters across the NLL would be tantamount to a grave provocation," it quoted an unidentified official as saying.

"Inter-Korean talks would be hardly held as scheduled."

Seoul is also considering tougher action, it quoted an anonymous military official as saying.

One option could be for Seoul's artillery to fire into the sea right in front of the North's land batteries, the official said. Presidential officials declined comment on the Chosun report.

The North, hit by tougher sanctions after its nuclear and missile tests last year, has sent mixed messages to Seoul in recent weeks.

It is pressing to upgrade or restart joint business projects with the South, while the military has threatened possible attacks.

Media reports that the South has drawn up a contingency plan in case of regime collapse in Pyongyang angered the North, as did Seoul's warning that it would launch a preemptive strike to foil any threatened nuclear attack.

South Korean authorities are "hatching plots to harm fellow countrymen at any cost, letting loose a string of extremely bellicose outbursts, blinded with the ambition to invade the North," said Rodong Sinmun, newspaper of the ruling communist party.

So far, the unification ministry said it was going ahead with talks scheduled in North Korea for Monday about the future of a jointly-run industrial estate at Kaesong.

"Despite the firing near the Northern Limit Line, we will push for calm and stable inter-Korean relations by moving ahead with the talks," said spokesman Chun Hae-Sung.


by Park Chan-Kyong
(c) 2010 AFP