S. Korea may strike N. Korea's missile base: President Lee

President Lee Myung-bak instructed his military to strike North Korea’s missile base near its coastal artillery base if it shows signs of additional provocation.

In a video conference with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Han Min-koo shortly after the shootings, Lee ordered a “manifold retaliation” against the North for its artillery attack, according to Lee’s spokesperson Kim Hee-jung.

“President Lee instructed (the military) to strike North Korea’s missile base near its coastline artillery positions if necessary ... if there is an indication of further provocation,” Kim said. 

President Lee Myung-bak (center) presides an emergency meeting with top security officials following the North's artillery attacks of Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

   The South Korean government said North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday was “an indisputable provocation,” vowing stern retaliation should there be further provocation.

“The firing of artillery by North Korea on Yeonpyeong Island constitutes an indisputable armed provocation against the Republic of Korea,” President Lee’s top aide for public relations Hong Sang-pyo said in an official statement following an emergency security meeting presided by Lee.

“Making matters worse, it even indiscriminately fired against civilians. Such actions will never be tolerated.” 

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea immediately and strongly responded to the provocation in accordance with the rules of engagement, and damage to the North has yet to be verified, Hong said. 

“The South Korean military will retaliate against any additional acts of provocation in a resolute manner,” he said. 

“The North Korean authorities will have to take full responsibility for the incident.” 

The North fired dozens of shells across the western sea border onto the South’s waters and Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean soldiers and wounding 19 others including three island residents.

Ministers Kim Sung-hwan of foreign affairs, Hyun In-taek of unification, Kim Tae-young of defense, Maeng Hyung-kyu of public administration and security, Lim Chae-min of the prime minister’s office and National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon attended the emergency meeting presided by President Lee. 

President Lee Myung-bak is briefed on North Korean artillery firings on Yeonpyeong Island Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

Lee earlier ordered his top aides to sternly respond to North Korea’s artillery shooting while making every effort to keep the situation from getting worse.

“(We) should carefully manage the situation to prevent the escalation of the clash,” Lee was quoted as saying by a Cheong Wa Dae official before the emergency meeting of security-related ministers at an underground bunker of the presidential office.

Cheong Wa Dae said it was looking into whether the North fired the artillery in protest of the South Korean Navy’s “Hoguk Exercise,” one of its three major annual defense drills, near the island.

“North Korea sent a complaint this morning asking whether (the exercise) was an attack against the North,” Lee’s spokesperson Kim said earlier in the day.

“We are confirming whether (the North’s artillery shootings) are related to this.”

N. Korea threatens continued strikes on South

North Korea is threatening to continue launching strikes against South Korea if it violates their disputed sea border ``even 0.001 millimeter.''

   North Korea's supreme military command said Tuesday that it would ``launch merciless military retaliatory strikes.''

   The warning was carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

   The comments followed North Korea's bombardment of a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday. South Korean officials said the barrage set buildings ablaze and killed at least one marine after the North warned the South to halt military drills in the area.

S. Korea may strike N. Korea's missile base: President Lee

President Lee Myung-bak ordered his military Tuesday to strike North Korea's missile base around its coastline artillery positions if it shows signs of additional provocation, his spokeswoman said.

   In a video conference with Gen. Han Min-koo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president ordered "multiple-fold retaliation" against the North for its artillery attack on a South Korean island, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung.

President Lee Myung-bak (center) presides an emergency meeting with top security officials following the North's artillery attacks of Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

   "President Lee instructed (the military) to strike North Korea's missile base near coastline artillery position if necessary... if there in an indication of further provocation," the spokeswoman said.

N.K. artillery strikes S. Korean island

North Korea fired dozens of coastal artillery shells, some of which fell on the South’s Yeonpyaong Island near the tense western inter-Korean border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

“The North fired dozens of artillery rounds from its Gaemeori western coastal artillery base at 14:34 p.m. In response to the military provocations, we fired back dozens of rounds with K9 self-propelled howitzers,” JCS spokesman Col. Lee Bung-woo told reporters.

In the artillery firing, one marine solider was killed while a dozen others suffered injuries, as of press time. The military was trying to evacuate civilians on the island near the border. Several civilians were reported to have suffered injuries.

Smoke billows from Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday after North Korean artillery shells struck it. (Yonhap News)

The firing came as the South was carrying out a live-fire exercise in waters off the Bangnyeong Island and the Yeonpyeong Island as part of the annual nine-day Hoguk Exercise, aimed at enhancing interoperability and defense capabilities against North Korea.

Regarding the Hoguk Exercise, the North sent a faxed message to the South in the morning, saying it would not “just sit back while the South is carrying out the live-fire exercise, according to JCS officials.

“Our military has begun operating the crisis management system and strengthened a readiness posture in all military branches. We are fully and firmly prepared to respond to additional North Korean provocations,” Lee said.

The JSC called on the North to immediately stop acts that ratchet up military tension on the peninsula and inter-Korean confrontations. “We will strongly respond to any further provocations from the North,” the spokesman said.

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae said it was looking into whether the North fired the artillery in reaction to the South Korean navy’s “Hoguk Exercise” near the island.


“North Korea wired a complaint this morning asking whether (the exercise) was an attack against the North,” President Lee Myung-bak’s spokesperson Kim Hee-jung said during a press briefing.

Lee held emergency meetings of his top aides and security related ministers in the afternoon.

The volley of artillery came as tensions have run high between the two Koreas following the March 26 sinking of the corvette Cheonan, which Seoul holds Pyongyang responsible for.

The Seoul-led multinational investigation team concluded in May that a North Korean midget submarine torpedoed the 1,200-ton corvette, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang has persistently denied its involvement. 

In August, the North fired some 130 coastal artillery shells into waters near the western inter-Korean maritime border. Some 10 coastal artillery shells landed in waters about 1-2 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line off Bangnyeong Island.

The volley of artillery fire came after the South Korean military finished its five-day maritime maneuvers in the West Sea, which were designed to enhance its defense capabilities against North Korean provocations. 

The artillery firing came as a surprise as North Korea experts here largely anticipated that the communist state would seek to improve ties with its southern neighbor as it has been striving to solidify its second hereditary power succession.

The North has recently made it public that its leader Kim Jong-il’s youngest son Jung-un is being groomed to succeed his ailing father. Jung-un has recently been made a four-star general and appointed as vice chairman of the ruling Worker’s Party’s Central Military Commission.