Officials: N. Korea conducts drill at sea border

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea

Sounds of explosions caused South Korean residents of a front-line island to prepare to evacuate early today, but it later was determined the noise came from a North Korean artillery drill across the rivals’ disputed maritime border, officials said.

The false alarm was indicative of the high anxiety between the Koreas in the wake of the North’s recent long-range rocket launch and nuclear test.

South Korea’s front-line soldiers near the northwest island of Baengnyeong heard several explosions and also saw flashes from what the military believes were shells fired from North Korean coastal guns about 7:20 a.m., said an official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry, who didn’t want to be identified, citing office rules. No North Korean projectile flew south of the maritime border, he said.

An official from the county that governs the island said that residents didn’t evacuate although fishing boats returned to their ports. She said that passenger vessels from the island and the mainland port of Incheon were operating normally.