North Korea fires artillery shells near South Korean island

North Korea fired some 200 artillery shells near a South Korean border island off the west coast of the peninsula, turning up pressure on Seoul after leader Kim Jong Un said it was impossible to unify with his neighbor.

The shells were fired Friday to the north of Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message sent to reporters. People on Yeonpyeong were told to evacuate to shelters, a county official said by telephone.

“There is no damage to our people or military as a result, and the point where they hit the water is the northern area of the NLL,” the JCS said, referring to the Northern Limit Line. The boundary was drawn unilaterally by U.S.-led forces after the Korean War, and waters around the area have been the site of clashes, including a 2010 incident in which South Korea claimed North Korea torpedoed one of its warships south of the line, killing 46 sailors. In response to North Korea’s actions, South Korea carried out a military drill from 3 p.m. near the western sea border, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.

South Korea respond strongly and in kind in accordance with the policies the government has maintained against North Korea’s provocations, Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said in the statement. South Korea lifted the evacuation order for residents on Yeonpyeong island at about 3:40 p.m., according to an official from the district office.

The firing came after the U.S. and South Korea completed their first joint military drill from Pocheon, north of the capital of Seoul. It went for a week from Dec. 29, aimed at strengthening the alliance’s operational capabilities, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

In November 2010, the island of about 2,000 inhabitants — including hundreds of military personnel — suffered the first attack on South Korean soil since the end of the Korean War.