South Korea held a ceremony Saturday to mark the 11th anniversary of a deadly naval skirmish with North Korea in the tensely guarded western sea.
The exchange of fire between the two Koreas took place on June 29, 2002 near Yeonpyeong island, just 120 kilometers north of Seoul and near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto maritime border, killing six soldiers and wounding 19 others.
"South Korea's Navy and Marine Corps should guard the NLL, the last line of defense, at any cost, given the current security situation," Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, the Navy's chief, said in a commemorative speech. "Defending the NLL will be the reason for the Navy's existence until the day of unification."