Da Daily Dank

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea — South Korea began live-fire
drills Monday from a front-line island shelled last month by North
Korea, in defiance of the North's threats to attack again.



The Defense Ministry said the drills started Monday at 0530 gmt from
this tiny enclave of fishing communities and military bases only about
seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores.

The North shelled the island on Nov. 23 after similar drills, killing two marines and two civilians.



South Korea's new drills from Yeonpyeong brought tensions to their
highest point since the North's Nov. 23 bombardment, which was the
North's first attack targeting civilian areas since the 1950-53 Korean
War.



Residents, local officials and journalists Yeonpyeong and four other
islands were ordered to evacuate to underground shelters because of
possible attacks by North Korea, Ongjin County government spokesman Won
Ji-young said.



South Korean marines on Yeonpyeong, a tiny enclave of fishing
communities and military bases within sight of North Korean shores,
were to conduct the live-fire drills from the island.

In South Korea's Gyeonggi Province near the capital, 42 residents of
farming communities near the tense land border were evacutated and were
to stay in an area farther south until after the drills are finished, a
provincial official said. The official refused to give his name because
he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.



It wasn't immediately known whether other front-line villagers were ordered to move south.



On Yeonpyeong, residents filed into an underground shelter after
authorities announced the drill and huddled on the floor as a South
Korean soldier showed them how to use a gas mask, according to footage
shot by Associated Press Television News.



"I feel the same as last Nov. 23, when North Korea fired artillery at
us," said Oh Gui-nam, a 70-year-old island resident. "My emotions are
all tangled up."The Defense Ministry said the artillery drills would
last about two hours and involve several types of weapons, including
K-9 self-propelled guns, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told
reporters, according to his office.



The North, which considers the waters around
Yeonpyeong its own territory, has warned of a "catastrophe" if South
Korea goes ahead with the drills. The North says it warned South Korea before last month's shelling not to conduct similar live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong.