Bad weather is likely to delay South Korea's artillery drills planned to take place on the island in the Yellow Sea that was attacked by North Korea last month, the Yonhap news agency said on Saturday.
South Korea had planned to hold the one-day drills between Saturday and Tuesday. North Korea has warned that it will make another strike on the island, "deadlier" than the November 23 attack that killed four, in the South proceeds with the drills.
"Given that the maritime weather conditions around Yeonpyeong Island are expected to worsen from this afternoon, we decided that it'd be difficult for the military to hold a live-fire drill," the news agency quoted an indentified military source as saying.
"Weather conditions are the most important factor in deciding the time for a drill," the source said, adding that the weather is expected to improve early next week, which would allow holding the exercises on Monday or Tuesday.
On November 23, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong, a front-line island at the maritime border between the countries, in response to South Korea's drills in the Yellow Sea. Pyongyang does not recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line drawn up by the United States at the end of the 1950s Korean War and claims that shells fired during the South's drills violated its territory.
Following South Korea's announcement of the drills, the United States expressed their support of Seoul, while Russia and China called on the South Korean authorities to show restraint and refrain from the drill that would further escalate tensions on the peninsula.
South Korean officials have warned the North it will retaliate harshly if Pyongyang attacks the South's territory again.
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti)
