North Korea gives tough warning on live-fire drills

North Korea warned South Korea today not to stage artillery drills on a front-line island the North bombed last month, saying it would hit back even harder than in the previous attack that killed four South Koreans.

The North warned the South against similar drills before the November 23 shelling that destroyed homes and renewed fears of war on the divided peninsula.

South Korea has said it plans one-day, live-fire drills sometime between Saturday and Tuesday on Yeonpyeong, a tiny island that is home to fishing communities and military bases and sits just seven miles (11 kilometres) from North Korean shores.

Seoul says the drills’ timing will depend on weather and other factors and, despite the North’s threats, the exercises will go ahead as planned.

The North, which claims nearby waters and has said it considers such drills an infringement of its territory, responded to similar firing exercises by raining artillery shells on Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two construction workers.

The assault was the first by the North to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and caused anger and shock in the South, where TV screens and newspapers were filled with images of islanders fleeing their bombed-out, burning homes.

A senior North Korean military official said that if South Korea goes ahead with more drills, “unpredictable self-defensive strikes will be made.”

“The intensity and scope of the strike will be more serious than the November 23 (shelling),” the North said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s government has faced stinging criticism that his military was unprepared for the attack and reacted too slowly and too weakly. He has since replaced his defence minister and vowed to boost troops and weapons on islands along the Koreas’ disputed western sea border.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the North’s threats wouldn’t stop the planned drills. Seoul has said they are part of “routine, justified” exercises and has warned that it is prepared to deal with any North Korean attack.

The tough words from the Koreas came as a high-profile US state governor visited North Korea.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has frequently been an unofficial envoy to the North, said he wanted to visit the North’s main nuclear complex and meet senior officials during his four-day trip.