Shooting drills to be conducted just below sea border

The South Korean military will resume shooting drills by a Marines unit on Yeonpyeong Island.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff posted Wednesday an announcement on a naval fire drill plan on the navigation alert section of the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration’s Web site.

The military was scheduled to conduct shooting drills from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Nov 23-24 in the naval firing zone (Zone D in map), which extends far from the southwest area of Yeonpyeong. The exercises were suspended after North Korea began its shelling on Nov. 23. As a result, Seoul will soon conduct shooting drills scheduled for Nov. 24 at the same venue.

Shooting drills in the five Yellow Sea islands were also conducted Sept. 28-29. The areas where the exercises were conducted at the time were the coastal areas of Baengnyeong (zones A and B) and Socheong islands (zones B and C), and areas southwest and southeast of Yeonpyeong (Zone D). These zones are below the Northern Limit Line and constitute South Korean waters.

The North claims the waters as its own based on a sea border that it unilaterally declared.

mhpark@donga.com