South Korea wary of North Korean guns during naval exercise

SEOUL - South Korea’s military briefly ordered civilians on a border island into bomb shelters after hearing sounds of artillery from the North, officials said Sunday.

The military lifted the emergency order on Yeonpyeong Island after determining that the sounds came from a training ground in North Korea, rather than from coastline batteries, the South’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

Officials were keeping a close watch on the North’s military movements since US-South Korean naval drills began in the Yellow Sea Sunday in a show of force.

Yonhap reported that North Korea also deployed surface-to-air missiles to its west coast as the naval exercises got under way, five days after the North shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines and two civilians.

“(The missiles) appear to be targeting our fighter jets that fly near the Northern Limit Line,” the agency quoted a source who requested anonymity. The source was referring to the maritime border.

Most of the 1,700 residents have left the island, but about two dozen civilians remained, Yonhap said.