I am extremely concerned about what's happening on the Korean peninsula right now. North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire this morning after dozens of shells fired from the North struck the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong near the countries' disputed maritime border: North and South Korea Exchange Dozens of Artillery Shells.
Two South Korean soldiers were killed and 14 were injured, four of them seriously. No word on civilian casualties yet. The South Korean military has gone to "crisis status" and fighter planes have been put on alert. There is some serious stuff going down:
South Korean artillery units returned fire after the North's shells struck South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island at 2:34 p.m., said Mr. Kwon, an official at the Defense Ministry. The North also fired numerous rounds into the Yellow Sea, he said.Needless to say, the situation is pretty volatile right now. I don't know what's going to happen, or where you go from here. But since none of the cable news channels are discussing this right now, I'm pretty much just hitting refresh on the New York Times homepage every five minutes. And just praying things don't escalate. More here: South Korea Says North's Attack Was Premediated.
A spokesman for President Lee Myung-bak said Mr. Lee gathered his security-related ministers and senior aides at a crisis meeting in the underground situation room at the Blue House, the presidential office and residence.
"We will not in any way tolerate this," Mr. Lee's chief spokesman, Hong Sang-pyo, said after the meeting. "Any further provocation will get an immediate and strong response and the South Korean military will strongly retaliate if there is anything further."
