South Korea Fires Artillery Off Yeonpyeong After Hearing Shells From North

By Seonjin Cha

Interesting timing, considering the markets are in free fall... - Chris, InfoLibSouth Korea’s military said it fired artillery rounds in retaliation after hearing explosions coming from the North near the countries’ disputed sea border that was the scene of a deadly shelling in November.

The three South Korean shells were fired into the sea around 2 p.m. local time, about an hour after the initial salvo, said a defense ministry official who declined to be identified, citing government policy. The defense official said the military wasn’t aware of any drills in the area.

The incident comes a month after both nations said they would try to revive multilateral talks on the North’s nuclear- weapons program, signaling an easing of tension between the two rivals that has been an irritant to U.S.-China ties over the past year. The so-called Northern Limit Line dividing the two nations on their western border in the Yellow Sea has been a source of repeated conflict since their 1950-1953 civil war ended in a cease-fire.

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