AFP:
N.Korea vows to strike back if South holds island drill
SEOUL — North Korea's military threatened Friday to strike back if South Korea goes ahead with an imminent live-fire drill on a border island which the communist state shelled last month.
The North "will deal the second and third unpredictable self-defensive blow" to protect its territorial waters if the South holds the one-day drill scheduled between Saturday and Tuesday, it said. "It will be deadlier than what was made on November 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike," according to the military statement carried by the English-language service of the North's official news agency.
The bombardment of Yeonpyeong island last month killed two marines and two civilians, injured 18 people and damaged dozens of homes. The South, outraged at the first shelling of civilian areas since the 1950-53 war, has fortified Yeonpyeong with more troops and artillery and vowed to use air power against any future attack. Its military has said its artillery will be aimed away from the North as usual during the upcoming drill, but it will respond strongly if provoked. Members of the US-led United Nations Command are scheduled to observe the drill and about 20 US soldiers will play a supporting role.
But a top US general Thursday voiced concern over a possible "chain reaction". General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the drill was being held on a "well-established and well-used" range in a transparent way, but could draw a North Korean reaction. "What we worry about obviously is... if North Korea were to react to that in a negative way and fire back at those firing positions on the islands, that would start potentially a chain reaction," Cartwright told reporters. "What you don't want to have happen out of that is for... us to lose control of the escalation."
Seoul military spokesmen had no immediate comment on whether the drill would go ahead despite the latest warning.
The South's defence ministry, in a statement, suggested it would be held. "Our military's stance is that we do not need to react to every single threat and unreasonable statement," it said. The ministry said it had given a warning to shipping about the drill and made its plans for the exercise public.
Yeonpyeong is just south of the Yellow Sea border drawn by United Nations forces after the war, which the North refuses to recognise. It claims the seas around the island as its own maritime territory. A firing drill into the Yellow Sea by South Korean marines based on the island on November 23 was answered by the North's deadly bombardment. "The waters off Yeonpyoong island, the target of their shelling, are the inviolable territorial waters of the DPRK (North Korea)," the North's statement said.
In an earlier message, Pyongyang's official website Uriminzokkiri warned that another war with South Korea would involve nuclear weapons. "Because of the South Koreans' reckless war policies, it is not about war or peace on the Korean peninsula but when the war will break out," the website said. "If war breaks out, it will lead to nuclear warfare and not be limited to the Korean peninsula," it said in a posting dated Thursday.........