Koreas in border artillery clash
Baku, November 23 (AZERTAC). South Korea says it has returned fire after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells at one of its border islands, killing two marines.
The South`s military was placed on its highest non-wartime alert after the shells landed on Yeonpyeong island. There is confusion about what triggered the shelling, with the North`s military insisting it did not open fire first. Analysts say this is one of the most serious clashes since the Korean War ended without a peace treaty in 1953. There have been occasional cross-border incidents since, but the latest comes at a time of rising regional tension.
North Korea`s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il is thought to be ill and trying to ensure the succession of his youngest son. On Saturday, it emerged that North Korea had also shown off to an American scientist what it claimed was a new uranium enrichment facility. The move prompted the US to rule out the resumption of six-party talks on nuclear disarmament that Pyongyang abandoned two years ago.
A resident on the island told the AFP news agency that dozens of houses were damaged by the barrage, while television pictures showed plumes of smoke rising above the island. "Houses and mountains are on fire and people are evacuating. You can`t see very well because of plumes of smoke," a witness on the island told YTN television station. "People are frightened to death." Local government spokesman Yoon Kwan-seok said the shelling lasted for about an hour and then stopped abruptly. "The whole of Yeonpyeong island was blacked out following the North Korean attacks," he was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. "All of the island`s 1,600-odd residents were evacuated to shelters."
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