SEOUL: South Korea's military Wednesday staged a live fire artillery exercise on an island hit by a deadly North Korean bombardment last November, officials said.
The exercise on Yeonpyeong island near the tense Yellow Sea border began at 9.30 am (0030 GMT) and was scheduled to last about one hour, a defence ministry spokesman said.
Tensions along the disputed border have been acute since the shelling last November 23 killed two marines and two civilians and damaged dozens of homes. It was the first attack on a civilian area in the South since the 1950-53 war.
Pyongyang said it was responding to a South Korean artillery drill which dropped shells earlier that day into waters claimed by the North.
Wednesday's drill was the first since a live-fire exercise on Yeonpyeong last December 20. That passed off without incident despite the North's threats to hit back.
A similar live-fire drill was being carried out Wednesday on Baengnyeong island, the closest one to the North's coastline.
The exercises involve K-9 self-propelled howitzers, Vulcan cannons and 81mm mortars, according to the Marine Corps which garrisons the frontline islands whose defences have been strengthened since last November.
Guns were being aimed southwards, away from the North.
"This is a legitimate, regular practice aimed at improving the firing skills of our troops," a Corps spokesman told AFP.
The military was guarding against "all possible provocations" by the North but there was no response yet, Yonhap news agency cited a Seoul military official as saying.
Seoul plans to stage such live-fire drills on a regular basis to strengthen military capabilities near the border, it said.
Relations have been icy since the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship near the Yellow Sea border in March 2010 with the loss of 46 South Korean sailors.
The North denies involvement in the sinking.
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