With fighter jets and attack ships nearby,
launched hundreds of artillery shells in a 90-minute display of power
on Yeonpyeong island, the scene of a similar exercise last month that
prompted
This time,
called the drills “reckless” but said the South Korean military had
changed the direction of its artillery fire away from the North Korean
southern coast, just seven miles from the island.
“revolutionary armed forces . . . did not feel any need to retaliate
against every despicable military provocation,” the state-run Korean
Central News Agency quoted military officials as saying.
Monday’s standoff followed an emergency meeting
Sunday in which the United Nations Security Council sought ways to
reduce tension on the Korean peninsula.
“This is the way countries are supposed to act,” a
U.S. State Department spokesman said in a prepared statement. “The
South Korean exercise was defensive in nature. The North Koreans were
notified in advance. There was no basis for a belligerent response.”
CNN reported that
was prepared to again allow access to nuclear-enrichment facilities to
international inspectors expelled by the secretive regime in 2009. The
conciliation was reportedly made during an unofficial visit to
While calling the move “a positive step,” State Department officials in
“We’ve seen a string of broken promises by
With its drills Monday,
seemed prepared to engage its northern neighbor along a maritime border
that has been in dispute ever since fighting between the two sides
ended with an armistice in 1953.
Last month,
ordered residents of five frontline islands into bomb shelters and
evacuated hundreds of others from its land border with the north, while
marshalling to the area fighter jets and a dozen naval ships, including
an Aegis missile-equipped destroyer.
“It is a matter of course that a divided nation in a
military standoff conduct a military exercise to defend its territory
as a sovereign state,” President
South Korean military officials also took a more
aggressive stance toward the north, insisting that the 1,000 shells
launched during Monday’s exercises were fired in the same direction as
last month’s maneuvers — away from the North Korean coast.
appeared “afraid” of a full-blown war, said a South Korean military
spokesman. He also dismissed the north’s failure to retaliate on
Monday, noting that
Analysts say that recent
attacks and belligerent language may be designed to shore up the
popularity of leader Kim Jong Il at home while dividing the U.S. and
“
benefits from continued provocations to the extent that the incidents
provide a pretext for even stronger domestic political control, reveal
military and political weaknesses in
“An effective policy response must address these
vulnerabilities by strengthening South Korean defenses and closing the
U.S. gap with
But the United Nations Security Council remained
stymied on the issue. Diplomats scrapped plans for a follow-up meeting
after failing to agree Sunday on a draft statement because of
differences over whom to blame for the ongoing tension on the Korean
peninsula.
“The gaps that remain are unlikely to be bridged,” said
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