29/04/2014 10:10
N Korea 'warns of live firing drill'
North Korea has announced it will conduct live firing drills near its disputed maritime border on Tuesday, the BBC reported, citing South Korea's defence ministry.
It would be the second time within a month that Pyongyang had carried out such exercises.
South Korea's defence ministry said it had been notified that the drills would take place near two islands to the west of the Korean peninsula.
A South Korean spokesman said its military was "fully prepared."
The area has been a flashpoint between the two Koreas. The UN drew the western border after the Korean War, but North Korea has never recognised it.
A similar North Korean exercise at the end of March resulted in the two sides exchanging hundreds of rounds of artillery fire.
"The North notified us there would be live-fire drills today north of the [border] near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP news agency.
Both islands are hotspots. In November 2010, North Korea fired shells at Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two civilians, in what it said was a response to South Korean military exercises.
Earlier that year, a South Korean warship sank near Baengnyeong island with the loss of 46 lives.
Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel but North Korea denies any role in the incident.