DM Monitoring
SEOUL: North Korea was conducting live-fire drills on its western coast, the Yonhap news agency reported Sunday, the third consecutive day of military exercises near the contested maritime border with the South.
“N. Korea conducting live-fire drills on western coast: S. Korean military,” Yonhap reported.
“The North Korean military has been conducting the drills north of the South Korean front-line island of Yeonpyeong since around 4 pm (0700 GMT),” it reported, citing a military source. There no North Korean artillery shells had fallen south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, and no casualties had been reported, it added.
Residents on the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong were warned to stay inside Sunday, local officials told AFP, due to the drills and any possible South Korean countermeasures. “North Korean gunfire is currently being heard,” said a text message sent to all residents Sunday afternoon, details of which were confirmed to AFP by local officials.
“Troops on Yeonpyeong Island are currently responding, but residents are advised to be careful of outdoor activities,” the message said. On both Friday and Saturday, North Korea fired artillery rounds in the same area — near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, two sparsely populated islands situated just south of a defacto maritime border between the two sides.
