Monday, December 13, 2010

South Korea Admits it Fired First At North Korea


South Korea admits its military fired the first shells that triggered the exchange of artillery between the North DPRK and the South ROK.

"The North blamed the South for starting the exchange; the South acknowledged firing test shots in the area but denied that any had fallen in the North's territory.[...]

The official North Korean news agency said in a brief statement on Tuesday night that the South "recklessly fired into our sea area."

The South Korean deputy minister of defense, Lee Yong-geul, said artillery units had been firing from a battery on the South Korean island of Baeknyeongdo, close to the North Korean coast.

Yeonpyeong Island sits just two miles from the Northern Limit Line, the disputed sea border which the North does not recognize, and only eight miles from the North Korean coast. The island houses a garrison of about 1,000 South Korean marines, and the navy has deployed its newest class of "patrol killer" guided-missile ships in the Western Sea, as the Yellow Sea is also known."

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