Casualties as N.Korea fires artillery at South
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
Excerpt:
SEOUL — North Korea fired artillery shells onto a South Korean border island on Tuesday, causing casualties and prompting an exchange of fire with southern troops, officials and reports said.
The firing came after North Korea’s disclosure of an apparently operational uranium enrichment programme — a second potential way of building a nuclear bomb — which is causing serious alarm for the United States and its allies.
Some 50 North Korean shells landed on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong near the tense Yellow Sea border, causing some injuries and damage to dozens of houses, YTN television reported.
Four South Korean soldiers were wounded by the North Korean artillery barrage, the Yonhap news agency said.
The South Korean military went on its highest state of alert, the defence ministry said, and YTN reported that South Korean air force jets were scrambled to the island.
But a ministry spokesman told AFP: “A North Korean artillery unit staged an illegal firing provocation at 2:34 pm (0534 GMT) and South Korean troops fired back immediately in self-defence.”
One island resident, Lee Jong-Sik, told YTN: “At least 10 houses are burning. I can’t see clearly for the smoke. The hillsides are also on fire.
Someone in the North is trying to provoke the South to war.
And it may not be coming from the Kim’s.