South Korea Commemorates The 2010 North Korea Shelling Of Yeonpyeong Island With A Live-Fire Drill Despite The North’s Warning To React ‘Mercilessly’

The Marine Corps of South Korea held a live-fire drill on Monday at the Yellow Sea to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the North Korean shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 that led to the death of two Marines and two civilians, reported Korea JoongAng Daily on Tuesday.

The drill utilized K-9 self-propelled artillery launchers despite North Korea's warning on Sunday that it would respond "mercilessly" should the South Korean live-fire drill push through near the tense border.

According to Prothom Alo on Sunday, South Korea has been conducting live-fire drills near the Yellow Sea border on the anniversaries of the 2010 shelling as a display of the nation's strength. The Southwestern Front Command of North Korea, however, do not approve of this practice.

"If the South Korean military fires at the waters of the (North)...on Monday, they will experience merciless retaliation of the Southwestern Front units...on the five (border) islands," warned the North through the state-run Korean Central News Agency. "The bellicose forces of the South Korean military should come to their senses."

So far, no response from the North has been reported since South Korea's live-fire drill on Monday.

Spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense Kim Min Seok assured in a press briefing that the nation is sure to respond to any North Korean provocation and emphasized that the live-fire drill is just one of the annual exercises to commemorate the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

"We carried out a large-scale live-fire drill in consideration of the fact that North Korea attacked South Korean land for the first time since the Korean War on this day five years ago," noted a military official.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Patriots and Vetran Affairs held a memorial at the War Memorial of Korea in honor of the two late Marines who were killed in the shelling five years ago.

South Korean President Park Geun Hye was unable to attend the event as she has just recently returned from a 10-day trip out of the country, but sent a video message that played at the ceremony vowing to take "iron-clad defense posture" against threats from the North.