Military to resume live-fire drills in West Sea

By Jung Sung-ki

South Korea plans to issue a navigation ban for the western waters off Yeonpyeong Island later this week for maritime live-fire drills, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced Thursday.

The move is expected to further ratchet up cross-border tensions after the North fired its artillery at the island Nov. 23 in response to the South’s firing drill near the border island. The artillery attack killed four South Koreans — two marines and two civilians — sparking outrage in the South.

As a result, Seoul has vowed retaliation, including air strikes, should Pyongyang attack again. The United States has also expressed support for this principle for self-defense.

“We will issue a navigation ban for the coastal area of Yeonpyeong between Dec. 18 and 21 for maritime live-fire drills,” JCS spokesman Col. Lee Bung-woo told reporters. “A detailed date for declaring the ban will be decided after taking weather conditions into account.”

The exercises will be held in the southwestern waters of the island, where South Korea’s marines had held exercises just before the North’s deadly shelling, he said.

“We’ll hold exercises at routine sites and with routine methods within our territory,” said Lee.

Members of the United Nations Command will observe the drills, he added.

The shelling of Yeonpyeong, one of the five islands in the volatile western waters, marked the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War that the North indiscriminately fired on South Korean territory and killed civilians.

The North has never recognized the West Sea border, the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which was drawn up by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War.

It remains unclear whether the United States would support air strikes against the North, which could escalate the conflict on the peninsula into a full-scale war.

During peacetime, South Korean commanders are responsible for responding to North Korean provocations, but during a general war scenario, the top U.S. military officer in Seoul would assume control of South Korean troops and overall combat operations.