Seoul:
South Korea is honouring two marines killed in a North Korean artillery attack that was one of the worst bombardments of its territory since the 1950-53 Korean War.
At a funeral on Saturday in Seongnam, near Seoul, dignitaries and relatives placed white flowers at a funeral alter for the two marines killed in last Tuesday's attack on a South Korean island. The attack also killed two civilians.
Parents of the two marines, Seo Jeong-woo and Moon Kwang-wook, fought back tears during the funeral service.
Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike on Tuesday destroyed large parts of South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, in a major escalation of their sporadic skirmishes along the sea border.
Meanwhile across the country, people paused to watch the funeral on television screens.
In South Korea's capital Seoul, in shopping malls and the main train station, people stopped to pay their respects to the two dead marines.
On the streets of Seoul, there were mixed reactions on how to deal with the North in light of the attack.
"Once the enemy attacks us, it is our duty to respond even more strongly. South Korean people also want this," said Jeon Hyun-soo, a 19-year-old student.
Kim Min-yang said the South Korean military should have been prepared for such an attack, and called for more dialogue with the North.
"The emergency facilities should have been prepared for something like this, so I think the South Korean military must reinforce them. And I also think we need more dialogue with North Korea," Kim said.
The funeral comes as South Korea gears up for joint military manoeuvres with the US starting on Sunday.
North Korea issued new warnings on Saturday against the war games, calling them an "unpardonable provocation."
The heightened animosity between the Koreas is taking place as the North undergoes a delicate transition of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his young, inexperienced son Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and is expected to eventually succeed his ailing father.
As Washington and Seoul pressed China to use its influence on Pyongyang to ease tensions amid worries of all-out war, the US prepared to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to South Korean waters for joint military drills in the Yellow Sea starting on Sunday.
China is urging both sides to show restraint, while the US government is playing down the war games, noting that the weekend drills are routine.
The North, which sees the drills as a major military provocation, unleashed its anger over the planned exercises in a dispatch earlier on Friday.
"The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war," the report in the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
"Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served only," the newsreader of the state TV KRT said in a separate dispatch.
North Korea's army and people are "now greatly enraged" and "getting fully ready to give a shower of dreadful fire," the statement read by the newsreader said.
The North Korean government does not recognise the maritime border drawn by the United Nations in 1953, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong island its territory.
Washington keeps more than 28-thousand troops in South Korea to protect its ally from aggression, a legacy of the Korean War that is a sore point for North Korea, which cites the US presence as the main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.
On Thursday, the South's president ordered reinforcements for the four-thousand troops on Yeonpyeong and four other Yellow Sea islands, as well as top-level weaponry and upgraded rules of engagement.
He also sacked Defence Minister Kim Tae-young amid intense criticism that Yeonpyeong was unprepared for the attack and that the return fire came too slowly.
Lee named former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Kim Kwan-jin to the post, the president's office announced on Friday.
At a funeral on Saturday in Seongnam, near Seoul, dignitaries and relatives placed white flowers at a funeral alter for the two marines killed in last Tuesday's attack on a South Korean island. The attack also killed two civilians.
Parents of the two marines, Seo Jeong-woo and Moon Kwang-wook, fought back tears during the funeral service.
Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North's strike on Tuesday destroyed large parts of South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, in a major escalation of their sporadic skirmishes along the sea border.
Meanwhile across the country, people paused to watch the funeral on television screens.
In South Korea's capital Seoul, in shopping malls and the main train station, people stopped to pay their respects to the two dead marines.
On the streets of Seoul, there were mixed reactions on how to deal with the North in light of the attack.
"Once the enemy attacks us, it is our duty to respond even more strongly. South Korean people also want this," said Jeon Hyun-soo, a 19-year-old student.
Kim Min-yang said the South Korean military should have been prepared for such an attack, and called for more dialogue with the North.
"The emergency facilities should have been prepared for something like this, so I think the South Korean military must reinforce them. And I also think we need more dialogue with North Korea," Kim said.
The funeral comes as South Korea gears up for joint military manoeuvres with the US starting on Sunday.
North Korea issued new warnings on Saturday against the war games, calling them an "unpardonable provocation."
The heightened animosity between the Koreas is taking place as the North undergoes a delicate transition of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his young, inexperienced son Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and is expected to eventually succeed his ailing father.
As Washington and Seoul pressed China to use its influence on Pyongyang to ease tensions amid worries of all-out war, the US prepared to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to South Korean waters for joint military drills in the Yellow Sea starting on Sunday.
China is urging both sides to show restraint, while the US government is playing down the war games, noting that the weekend drills are routine.
The North, which sees the drills as a major military provocation, unleashed its anger over the planned exercises in a dispatch earlier on Friday.
"The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war," the report in the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
"Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served only," the newsreader of the state TV KRT said in a separate dispatch.
North Korea's army and people are "now greatly enraged" and "getting fully ready to give a shower of dreadful fire," the statement read by the newsreader said.
The North Korean government does not recognise the maritime border drawn by the United Nations in 1953, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong island its territory.
Washington keeps more than 28-thousand troops in South Korea to protect its ally from aggression, a legacy of the Korean War that is a sore point for North Korea, which cites the US presence as the main reason behind its need for nuclear weapons.
On Thursday, the South's president ordered reinforcements for the four-thousand troops on Yeonpyeong and four other Yellow Sea islands, as well as top-level weaponry and upgraded rules of engagement.
He also sacked Defence Minister Kim Tae-young amid intense criticism that Yeonpyeong was unprepared for the attack and that the return fire came too slowly.
Lee named former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Kim Kwan-jin to the post, the president's office announced on Friday.
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