South Korea Conducts Live-Fire Drills Near the North

A spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said marine artillery units on Yeonpyeong Island began firing at 2:30 p.m. The South Korean island, which sits just eight miles off the North Korean coast, was the site of last month’s artillery barrage by the North that killed two marines and two civilians.

South Korean television showed footage of the few remaining residents of the island’s fishing community moving into bomb shelters as the South braced itself for another possible attack by North Korea. The North has vowed “brutal consequences beyond imagination” as retaliation for the drills, which took place partially in disputed waters claimed by both Koreas.

The drill escalates what is already a tense stand off that American military officials have warned could spiral out of control. On Sunday, the United Nations Security Council ended a fruitless effort to call on the two nations to show moderation after China objected to efforts to condemn the North for last month’s lethal attack.

The South went through with the exercises even after an unofficial American envoy in North Korea, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a former United States ambassador to the United Nations, said that the North was taking the tension seriously and had offered concessions on its nuclear program, including a resumption of visits by United Nations inspectors.

Some political analysts said the government of South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, appeared keen to press forward with the exercises to show it has the backbone to stand up to the North’s threats, after facing withering public criticism for what was seen here as a weak response to last month’s shelling of Yeonpyeong.

“They want to show they are tough,” said Andrei Lankov, a longtime observer of North Korea and a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul. “Lee Myung-bak cannot show his weakness, both domestically and in front of North Korea. If he cancels the drill — which, I would add, would be a wise decision — he would be seen as bowing to the North Korean pressure.”

South Korea insisted that the drill was routine, and that it had the sovereign right to conduct such exercises. However, it faced international and domestic criticism over whether the drills were necessary, especially at such a tense time. Russia and China both had asked the South to cancel the drills.

By contrast, the United States has supported the South’s right to conduct the drills. On Monday, some 20 American military personnel were on hand in support and observer roles. The United States has been South Korea’s protector since the Korean War, currently stationing some 28,500 military personnel in South Korea.

The rising tensions have centered on the Yellow Sea around Yeonpyeong Island, with the North suddenly growing more assertive in disputing a maritime boundary that was drawn after the 1950-53 Korean War. Political analysts say the North appears to be engaged in military brinksmanship aimed at forcing the South to resume food aid and other assistance to North Korea’s decrepit state-run economy, and possibly to burnish the military credentials of the youngest son and heir apparent of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.

For its part, the South also appears unwilling to back down this time, as President Lee, a conservative, has come under pressure, particularly from his right-wing base, for failing to respond more robustly both to last month’s attack and to the sinking in March of a South Korean warship in nearby waters. The new South Korean defense minister, a former four-star general, has vowed to strike back hard at North Korea — including the use of airstrikes — should it attack again.

Last month’s attack was particularly shocking in the South because it appeared to target the island’s small fishing community of about 1,350 civilians, and its well dug-in military garrison. This has led to uncharacteristic calls for revenge against the North.

For its part, the North denies responsibility for the sinking of the warship, the Cheonan, and maintains that the shelling of Yeonpyeong was in self-defense. It has promised to respond fiercely if the South fires into waters it claims, including those around Yeonpyeong.

The question now is whether the North will make good on its promises to retaliate, and how it might do so. Mr. Lankov, the analyst, said he did not expect a massive response by Pyongyang because the recent incidents are part of a North Korean “strategy of tensions,” meaning that North Korean leaders want to choose when and where to strike.

“I do not think the North Koreans will do much this time,” Mr. Lankov said. “They’d rather deliver a new blow later when they will be ready. But the maneuvers still mean a great risk of escalation.”

Meanwhile, in Pyongyang, Mr. Richardson said the North had agreed to concessions related to its nuclear program, a main source of tension on the peninsula. A former United States envoy to North Korea, Mr. Richardson was on an unofficial trip approved by the State Department. He met with high-ranking military officials, the North Korean vice president and members of the Foreign Ministry over four days.

Mr. Richardson said the North had made two significant concessions toward reopening six-party talks on the country’s nuclear program. The North’s proposal would allow United Nations nuclear inspectors back into the Yongbyon nuclear complex to ensure that it is not producing enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. The North recently showed an American nuclear expert a new and stunningly sophisticated facility there; it had expelled inspectors last year.

North Korean officials also told Mr. Richardson that their government was willing to sell 12,000 plutonium fuel rods to South Korea, removing bomb-making material from the North, he said. “I would describe this as important progress,” he said of the concessions.

But in Seoul, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the concessions had no bearing on the South’s decision to hold the drills.

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