North Korean attack on Yeonpyeong Island is worst against civilians in 20 years

Via www.telegraph.co

By Peter Foster in Beijing 8:16AM GMT 23 Nov 2010

But today’s violence, which saw dozens of shells rain down on their homes and set more than 60 buildings on fire, is the most serious act of aggression against civilians from Pyongyang since the bombing of Korean Air flight 858 in 1987. It was the first artillery strike on South Korean soil since 1953.

As plumes of black smoke billowed from the coastline of the island, South Korea moved onto its highest peacetime emergency footing, returning fire on North Korea and scrambling F-16 fighter jets to the scene.

Yeonpyeong Island, which spans just three square miles and was once claimed by North Korea in the 1970s, has always been a point of tension because of its location near the Northern Limit Line, the sea border between the two countries.

Around 1,600 people live on the island, mostly fishermen drawn by the rich surrounding waters, as well as a garrison of 1,000 South Korean sailors.

The residents are used to acts of North Korean aggression. In June, North Korea responded to joint military drills by the United States and South Korea in the Yellow Sea by firing 130 artillery shells towards Yeonpyeong Island. However, only ten of these actually cross the Northern Limit Line and none caused any damage, landing in the sea.

Today’s attack also appears to have been in response to military exercises in the vicinity. “We were carrying out naval, air force and army training exercises and they seem to have opened fire in objection,” a military official told YTN, a South Korean television station.

The attack came as Stephen Bosworth, the United States envoy on North Korea, departed from Seoul for Beijing. Mr Bosworth is attempting to find a consensus to restart the six-party talks between China, South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and North Korea on the rogue state’s denuclearisation.

It also comes as North Korea prepares for a change of leader, with Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il, widely expected to take over from his 68-year-old father. Analysts have noted that the last handover of power in North Korea was also accompanied by a series of aggressive acts intended to strengthen the new leader’s relationship with the army. An internal power struggle in North Korea, between hardliners and reformists, is also thought to be underway, and could have sparked military action.

The attack, coupled with the unveiling over the weekend of a new light water nuclear reactor, equipped with a startlingly accomplished array of centrifuges, underlines North Korea’s continuing intransigence in the face of international pressure on it to disarm and cooperate in a peace process….READ MORE HERE