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S. Korea begins live-fire drill

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South Korea begun Monday a live-firing drill from a western border island despite Pyongyang's repeated vows of counterattack, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul said.

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The drill started at 14:30 local time (0530 GMT), an official from the Defense Ministry's press office told Xinhua over phone, adding that it will "end soon."

The scheduled one-day firing exercise, conducted in waters near a disputed western sea border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), will "not last too long," a JCS official told Xinhua.

Residents of Yeonpyeong island were told to take shelter ahead of the live-fire drill.

South Korea has reportedly deployed a guided-missile Aegis destroyer and fighter jets have taken off in anticipation of potential counterattacks by Pyongyang, which recently vowed "self-defense blows" against South Korea's artillery exercises.

The exercise reportedly involves K-9 self-propelled guns, 105mm howitzers and Vulcan cannons.

A South Korean watches TV broadcasting Yeonpyeong Island at the port of Incheon in Gyeonggi province of South Korea on Dec. 20, 2010. [Park Jin Hee/Xinhua]

The drill further heightens tension on the Korean peninsula following the DPRK's artillery bombardment on Nov. 23 of the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, which killed two marines and two civilians.

Pyongyang has claimed the shelling was for self-defense and provoked by Seoul and Washington then engaged in annual naval drills near a disputed western sea border.

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, which officials in Seoul said is not designed to provoke Pyongyang.

On Sunday, the UN Security Council failed to reach a consensus on the crisis of the Korean Peninsula after eight hours of closed-door consultations, due to the gaps among the council members.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, China expressed deep worries over the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and called on the parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint and return to the negotiating table at an early date.

China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Wang Min said China had repeatedly told the relevant parties that if blood was shed on the Korean Peninsula, the peoples on the two sides of the Peninsula would be the first to suffer.

Bloodshed and conflict would lead to a national tragedy of fratricide among compatriots and brothers of the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea ROK), harm regional peace and stability and affect neighboring countries, Wang said.

China has made unremitting efforts with the DPRK, South Korea and other parties through various channels to avoid an escalation of the situation, he said.

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo made urgent visits to the ROK and the DPRK at the end of last month and early this month respectively.

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