North, S. Korea exchange fire along sea border

SEOUL?? South Korea and North Korea exchanged artillery fire Wednesday after the South said that a shell from the North landed near waters that it claims near an island that the North shelled in late 2010, a move that sharply escalated tensions on the peninsula.

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Media reports said that the North's fire had been a training exercise and that the South fired back.

A South Korean defense ministry official said the shells landed in the disputed waters off Yeonpyeong island.

The island straddles the contested Northern Limit Line (NLL) and was the site of a deadly attack in 2010, the first assault on a civilian area since the end of the Korean war.

"Three shots were heard. One shell landed near the Northern Limit Line," Yonhap quoted a military official as saying.

Story: N. Korea: 'Not worth reacting' to South's drills

Yonhap said the shelling started at around 2 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET). South Korea replied with three rounds artillery fire.

Fishing boats in the vicinity called to port and Yeonpyeong residents have been evacuated into emergency shelters, media reports said.

The incident took place near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL), the scene of several skirmishes over the past decade including two deadly attacks last year that killed 50 South Koreans.

The flare-up was near Yeonpyeong island, which was attacked by the North last November. Four people were killed in the attack.

Previous incidents triggered by the North's violation of the NLL, unilaterally drawn up by the U.S. military at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, have led to clashes by the two sides' navies killing dozens of sailors.

PhotoBlog: Yeonpyeong Island following N. Korea's attack

Tensions had eased since the start of the year since the North's renewed calls for dialogue, including the resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear arms program.

Assassination ordered
Meanwhile, local media reported Wednesday that a team of North Korean agents have been assigned to kill South Korea's defense minister after he said Seoul would retaliate militarily if Pyongyang repeats attacks against the South.

North Korea, which has previously sent agents to try to assassinate key South Korean officials and high-profile defectors, succeeding in killing a nephew of Kim Jong-il near Seoul in 1997.

The South Korean government has put Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin under tight security protection, with four armed military police officers surrounding him when he is at outside events, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper quoted a senior government official as saying.

Slideshow: Daily life in North Korea (on this page)

The defense ministry did not comment immediately on the report.

The South's Yonhap news agency quoted a government source as saying intelligence officials are trying to determine the number of would-be assassins, and whether they are North Korean agents sent by Pyongyang or foreign nationals who entered the South from a third country under a North Korean order.

The source also said the assassins could be North Korean agents already stationed in the South.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44085856/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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