Anchor: The Defense Ministry has lodged a protest with North Korea for conducting artillery firing drills on an islet near the inter-Korean border. The South Korean military assessed that the drills took place Saturday, or exactly nine years after the North’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it lodged an official protest with North Korea after it conducted artillery firing drills on Changrin Islet near the de facto inter-Korean maritime border over the weekend.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo said the government strongly protested the move verbally via an inter-Korean military communication line.  

Choi said the ministry also sent a fax to the North stating that the drills violated the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement. The communique also urged Pyongyang not to conduct such drills again and to observe the military agreement.  

The protest was issued a day after North Korean state-run media said that leader Kim Jong-un visited a military unit on Changrin Islet and directed the firing of artillery.

The islet is situated in a maritime buffer zone that was designated under the September 19 military agreement last year. Both sides agreed under the accord to abstain from military exercises in the buffer zone.

Military authorities added that the drills were conducted last Saturday, nine years to the day after North Korea shelled the South's Yeonpyeong Island, killing four South Koreans.

A military official said the military had concluded the drills did indeed occur after analyzing audio recorded the same day.

Seoul's protest of the drills marks the first time it has identified North Korean military activity as a violation of the September 19 military agreement.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]