S. Korea stages live-fire drill amid tension
North Korea backs off from immediate response
By Lee Tae-hoon
South Korea pushed ahead with a live-fire artillery exercise on Yeonpyeong Island near the maritime border in the West Sea, despite North Korea’s threat of “deadly retaliation,” an official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.
“While keeping a close eye on the movement of the North Korean military, our military will continue to remain on high alert and prepare for an immediate response in the case of a possible attack,” JCS spokesman Lee Bung-woo said.
Lee said the North Korean military tightened its security and maintained vigilance, but did not make any unusual moves during the 94-minute drill.
The North gave a mixed response to the drill, which began at 2:30 p.m. after being postponed twice due to heavy fog.
“We have no interest in responding to each one of such despicable military provocations,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said, hinting that it may refrain from any immediate retaliation.
However, the Supreme Command of the North Korean People’s Army, warned of harsh retaliatory measures, saying “its limitless revolutionary force” would wipe out the “strongholds of the American and South Korean warmongers” through stronger counter strikes than its earlier artillery attack on Nov. 23.
On Friday, Pyongyang warned of a “catastrophe” on the Korean Peninsula.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin issued a warning to Pyongyang, saying, “The military will look into all possible countermeasures should the North launch provocations.”
The South mobilized K-9 self-propelled howitzers and vulcan guns for the drill and deployed about 10 naval ships, including the 7,600-ton guided-missile Aegis destroyer Sejong the Great to the West Sea, according to sources.
Some 1,500 artillery shells were reportedly fired into waters more than 10 kilometers away from the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border, while F-15K fighter jets were put on airborne alert.
The JCS and Ministry of National Defense, however, declined to confirm the number of shells.
The drill was abruptly halted last month by the North’s bombardment of the remote island off the west coast.
“The exercise is a routine and legitimate one that South Korea has regularly held for decades to defend its northwestern islands,” another JCS official said on condition of anonymity.
The North does not respect the NLL, claiming that it was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and that it should be redrawn further south.
Some 20 military personnel from the U.S. forces in the South participated in the one-day drill on Yeonpyeong to provide medical, communications and intelligence support, a military spokesman said.
He added that five delegates from the United Nations Command and the Military Armistice Commission were also on the island.
About 280 people, including residents, reporters and government officials, staying on the island, went to underground shelters during the exercise.
Prior to the drill, the North appeared to be making preparations to respond, removing covers from coastal artillery and forward-deploying some batteries. It also deployed fake weapons, shaped like 120- and 140-millimeter artillery guns on its west coast in an apparent move to confuse targets in a possible clash.
The North’s surprise shelling on Nov. 23 devastated the small fishing village of Yeonpyeong, killing four people, including two civilians.
The two Koreas are still technically at war after the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
북한 위협 속에 해상훈련 강행
북한의 위협에도 불구하고 우리군은 20일 연평도 해상사격훈련을 예정 되로 실시 했다. 군은 북한군의 추가 도발 가능성을 주시하며 즉각 대응태세를 당분간 유지할 계획이다.
훈련 기간 동안 북한군은 우리 군의 사격훈련에 경계태세를 강화하고 대비태세를 유지했으며, 연평도 북쪽 서해안 부대를 제외하곤 군사분계선(MDL) 지역에서 특이동향은 포착되지 않았다고 합참은 전했다.
북한은 우리 군의 연평도 해상사격훈련과 관련, "비열한 군사적 도발에 일일이 대응할 일고의 가치도 느끼지 않는다"고 밝혀 당장 공격하지 않을 것임을 시사했다.
그러나 북한군 최고사령부는 "한계 없는 우리 혁명무력의 2차, 3차 강위력한(강력한) 대응타격이 미국과 남조선 괴뢰호전광들의 본거지를 청산하는 데로 이어질 것"이라며 공격 위협을 늦추지 않았다.
합동참모본부 관계자에 의하면 해상 훈련은 오후 2:30분 시작되어 4시4분께 남북간 군사적 충돌 없이 완전 종료되었다.
합참 관계자는 "우리 군은 만일의 사태에 대비해 경계태세를 늦추지 않고 북한의 군사동향을 예의 주시하면서 즉각 대응태세를 유지하고 있다"고 말했다.
이번 훈련은 연평부대가 지난달 23일 K-9 고폭탄 등 사격훈련했다가 북한군의 연평도 공격으로 중지한 훈련을 연장한 것이다.
연평부대는 이번에 K-9 자주포와 박격포 등 1천500여발을 연평도 서남방 해상으로 발사했다고 군 소식통은 전했다.
군은 우리나라 첫 이지스구축함인 세종대왕함(7천600t급)등 10여척을 서해상에 전진 배치했고 공군은 F-15K 전투기도 출격해 서해 상공에서 대기태세를 유지했다고 군 관계자는 전했다.