South Korea has ended its live fire drills in the Yellow Sea. The move comes after the DPRK shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island almost a month ago.

 

The 90 minute drills involved several types of weapons, including K-9 self-propelled guns.

South Korea also deployed an anti- missile Aegis destroyer and put fighter jets on standby in anticipation of potential counterattacks from the DPRK, which threatened to unleash "self-defense blows" if Seoul went ahead with planned drill.

Lee Bung-Woo, Spokesman of S. Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "The Yeonpyeong island unit's maritime live-fire exercise started at 14:30 and ended at 16:04 on December 20th. However, our military is on guard with a full alert, observing North Korea's military situation closely and maintaining an immediate counteractive posture considering all possible contingencies."

South Korea's Yonhap news agency says the DPRK has raised military readiness of its artillery units.

During a news briefing on Monday, a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman defended the exercise, saying the drills were in a southwest direction, and not aimed at the DPRK.