Seoul - North Korean artillery shells rained down Tuesday on a South Korean island near their disputed western sea border, killing two South Korean soldiers and setting forests and dozens of houses ablaze, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. At least 16 South Korean soldiers were injured, and three civilians were hurt on Yeonpyeong island, which was shrouded in smoke from the fires. Its 1,600 residents were told to evacuate to shelters, and some fled by fishing boat.
The North fired about 100 shells and the South returned fire, firing 80 shells and targeting artillery positions on the North's coast, the Defence Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The exchange of fire lasted about an hour and prompted South Korea to deploy fighter jets to Yeonpyeong. Its military was placed on its highest peacetime alert.
North Korea blamed South Korea for starting one of the worst attacks since the 1950-53 Korean War and threatened 'merciless' strikes against its neighbour if it violates their border in the Yellow Sea.
If South Korea intrudes into its territorial waters 'even 0.001 millimetres, the revolutionary armed forces of [North Korea] will unhesitatingly continue taking merciless military counteractions against it,' the North's top military command said in a statement carried by state media.
Yeonpyeong lies 12 kilometres from North Korea's coast and 3 kilometres south of the sea border established by the United Nations after the Korean War. North Korea does not recognize that border and has said it should run south of Yeonpyeong.
About 1,000 South Korean soldiers are stationed on Yeonpyeong, which has been a source of tension between the two neighbours because of its location and rich fishing grounds, and naval clashes have occurred nearby in 1999, 2002 and November 2009.
A South Korean warship was also sunk near the border in March, killing 46 sailors. Seoul blamed Pyongyang for the sinking, but North Korea denied involvement.
The statement by the North Korean military command said Tuesday that the only border that exists in the seas west of the two Koreas is the one set by Pyongyang.
South Korea set the blame squarely on the North.
'This firing of coastline artillery by North Korea is clearly an intentional and premeditated attack that violates the Korean War armistice agreement,' Lieutenant General Lee Hong Ki of its Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Its presidential office warned that South Korea would respond to any other attacks with 'stern retaliation.'
Residents of Yeonpyeong, meanwhile, described chaos on the island, which was hit by at least 50 shells and was without electricity after the attack.
'I was staying at my home when I was surprised by sounds of bomb explosions,' a 35-year-old man identified only as Kim told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. 'As I stepped out of my home, the entire village was already turned into a sea of fire.
'I'm now staying in a shelter along with other villagers, but I'm still shaking with fear.'
The artillery barrage took place as a South Korean military drill was under way on the western coast involving about 70,000 troops. Pyongyang had protested the annual exercise in a message it sent to Seoul earlier Tuesday, the government said, but South Korea's military said the exercises had not violated the border, having taken place 20 to 30 kilometres south-west of Yeonpyeong.
Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have deteriorated this year after the sinking of the South Korean warship.
North Korea's nuclear programme has also been a concern, particularly after news at the weekend that it had a large, new uranium-enrichment facility. It said it is also building a light-water reactor.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after a ceasefire and not a peace treaty ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
