South Korea Holds Live-Fire Drill Near Disputed Border With North

South Korea conducted artillery exercises on Monday near a disputed Yellow Sea border with North Korea, despite Pyongyang's promise to retaliate for the drill, media reported.

 According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, live-fire artillery drills were conducted near the front-line islands of the inter-Korean maritime border.

On the eve of the artillery exercises Pyongyang warned Seoul that it would retaliate if South Korea dropped shells in North Korean territorial waters.

Current artillery drills coincide with the 5th anniversary of the North Korea's attack on South Korean front-line Yeonpyeong Island that left two soldiers and two civilians dead. Pyongyang announced at the time that it had been provoked by similar live-fire drills in the area.

The United Nations named the Yeonpyeong exchange one of the most serious incidents since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The two countries, still legally at war since that time, have only an armistice in place following the collapse of peace treaty negotiations.
  (Sputnik)
 23/11/15