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Tuesday, November 23, 2010     GET REAL

North Korea fires on South Korean island:
At least two dead, buildings on fire

SEOUL — North Korea fired dozens of rounds of artillery toward South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island near their shared western border Tuesday at 2:30 pm local time. South Korea responded with 80 rounds of artillery, according to local media reports citing military officials.

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Smoke billow from Yeonpyeong island near the border against North Korea, in South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 23.      AP/ Yonhap
Dozens of houses and building were on fire after the shelling, with some reports putting the number at as many as 100. Some 1,300 live on the island located 60 miles west of the coast of South Korea and only 7 miles from North Korea.

At least two Marines have been reported killed, and sixteen soldiers and at least three civilians were seriously wounded by the North's shelling. The extent of North Korean casualities was unknown.


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TV footage by YTN showed plumes of smoke still rising from the island. Island residents said they had been told to evacuate.

Yonhap news agency reported four soldiers were wounded.

Mountain fires were spotted across the island and residents reported that power and communications had been lost.

Provocations by the North had been anticipated by some analysts tracking the series of dramatic developments over the past two years during the decline in the health of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il and the designation of his youngest son Kim Jong-Un as his heir apparent in September.

The U.S. was rocked by a report this weekend that North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility producing material that can be used for making nuclear weapons.

President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to make sure that the firing wouldn’t escalate, according to Yonhap, quoting a presidential official.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told AP that dozens of rounds of artillery landed on the island and in the sea. The official said South Korea’s military is on alert, but provided not futher details.

Tensions between the two Koreas have sharply increased since the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan, in which 46 sailors died.

Seoul, backed by an international investigation, blamed a North Korean torpedo. Pyongyang has denied responsibility.

North Korea watchers here have suggested both that the sinking was intended to strengthen the stature of the young and untested Kim Jong-Un, and that the sinking may have been his initiative, according to reports by East-Asia-Intel.com .



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