South Korea starts live-fire drills off west coast

South Korea started nationwide live-fire naval exercise on Monday, despite Pyongyang's warnings against conducting provocative drills in disputed waters off the west coast of the divided peninsula, Reuters reported.

South Korea's military said the exercises were scheduled to take place in seas near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) off the west coast, but not near Yeonpyeong island which was hit by a barrage of North Korean shells 13 days ago.

Pyongyang said the exercise, expected to last around a week, showed the South was "hell-bent" on setting off a war.

Among the four South Koreans killed in the November 23 attack two were civilians. Dozens of homes were destroyed.
The North justified the attack -- the first of its kind on a civilian area on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war -- saying the South had fired artillery rounds into its waters.

The South said it had been conducting regular drills in the area but that they were harmless and on its side of the NLL.
South Korea's military said the latest round of naval drills would take place at 29 locations to the west, east and south of the peninsula.