South Korea, yesterday, conducted live-fire military drills from five islands near its

South Korea, yesterday, conducted live-fire military drills from five islands near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s threat to attack.

South Korea reported no immediate action by North Korea following the drills, which ended after about two hours. The drills took place in an area of the Yellow Sea that was the target of a North Korean artillery attack in 2010 that killed four South Koreans and raised fears of a wider conflict.

The heightened tension comes two months after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His young son Kim Jong Un has taken the helm of the nation of 24 million.

South Korean military officials said they were ready to repel any attack. Residents on the front-line islands were asked to go to underground shelters before the drills started, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

North Korea is fully prepared for a “total war,” and the drills will lead to a “complete collapse” of ties between the Koreas, the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Seoul is closely monitoring North Korea’s reaction. The Korean peninsula has been technically at war for about 60 years.

Officials from North Korea and the United States are to meet this week in Beijing for talks on the country’s nuclear weapons program. The discussions will be the first such bilateral contact since Kim Jong Il’s Dec. 17 death.

Can you imagine if a real war starts between these two countries!?

Source AP