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S. Korean military to conduct live-fire drills Monday

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South Korea will conduct a live-fire drill Monday from a western border island shelled last month by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul said.

South Korean marines patrol on Yeonpyeong Island December 19, 2010. South Korean military to carry out live-fire military drills in the sea near Yeontyeong Island on Monday, a Defense Ministry spokesman told Xinhua. [Xinhua]

Residents of Yeonpyeong island were told to take shelter ahead of the imminent drill, which officials in Seoul said was part of routine exercises suspended after the DPRK's deadly artillery bombardment on Nov. 23 on the island of Yeongpyeong.

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The firing drill is expected to be held after 1 p.m. (0400 GMT) on Monday and last under two hours considering weather conditions in the Yellow Sea, Seoul's YTN television reported.

The one-day drill near a disputed maritime border comes amid rising tension on the Korean peninsula following Pyongyang's shelling, which killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.

The DPRK, claiming the attack was for its self-defense, upbraided the planned exercise and warned of "self-defensive blows ". It has reportedly deployed fake artillery guns on its west coast designed to confuse South Korean forces, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Officials in Seoul have said the drill is a legitimate one to be conducted in South Korean waters and not designed to provoke Pyongyang.

Pyongyang never acknowledged a disputed maritime border near Yeonpyeong, unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations military forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two former wartime rivals have had fatal naval skirmishes near the sea border, called the Northern Limit Line.

Representatives from the Armistice Commission and the United Nations Command are expected to watch the drill, according to local reports.