It is hard to believe that it has already been 10 years since this attack happened:
South Korea will memorialize a site on Yeonpyeong Island shelled by North Korean forces in an unprovoked attack a decade ago, according to Seoul’s military.
A Marine Corps official told the JoongAng Ilbo Sunday that an area used to station field artillery on the island that was bombarded by North Korean artillery on Nov. 23, 2010, would be turned into a memorial.
The memorial will stand at the “gun platform where, amid the flames of the North Korean military’s bombardment, we pulled out our K-9 [howitzers] and immediately returned fire,” the official said.
Construction on a memorial that tourists can visit on Yeonpyeong Island, located around 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the western coast, will be complete around mid-December, the official added.
Currently, the main reminder of the bombardment of the island is the rubble of a house torn apart by the North’s shelling.
The North Koreans are believed to have fired around 170 rounds from a multiple-rocket launcher, hitting various spots on the larger of the two Yeonpyeong islands including a village and South Korean military installations.
The shelling killed two South Korean civilians — both construction workers — as well as two Marines stationed on the island. Around 30 more people were injured, while most of the island’s 1,780 civilian residents were evacuated on government vessels to Incheon.
South Korea and the United States are conducting joint military drills in the Yellow Sea.
South Korea’s Marine Corps said on Tuesday United States Marines based in Japan have been sent to take part in the ongoing drills, which began last month near South Korea’s northernmost Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.
About 200 U.S. marines belonging to the third Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Okinawa and 120 South Korean marines are taking part in the training exercise, named Korea Maritime Exercise Program.
The marines are practicing to defend against various scenarios of possible provocation by North Korea. [KBS World Radio]
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (C) and a group soldiers raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity as the prime minister visits a Marine Corps unit on Yeonpyeong, a western border island near North Korea, on July 10, 2015. (Yonhap)