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Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Tuesday fired artillery into the sea near its tense western sea border with South Korea, injuring at least 14 South Korean miltary personnel and two civilians, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Four of the military personnel were seriously injured, Yonhap said.

At least 200 rounds of artillery hit an inhabited South Korean island after the North started firing about 2:30 p.m. local time, Yonhap said.

South Korea's military responded with 80 rounds of artillery and deployed fighter jets to counter the fire, the report said.

The South Korean army also raised its alert condition, the report said.

Images of plumes of smoke were quickly broadcast on Yonhap television from the island of Yeonpyeong, but it was not immediately clear what the artillery had hit.

The island that was hit has a total of about 1,300 residents, a fisherman who lives on the island told Yonhap.

The South Korean government immediately called an emergency meeting of its security ministers.

The North Korean fire came as the South's military conducted routine drills in waters off the island.

Lampi di guerra tra le due Coree
Artiglieria colpisce isola, Seul risponde

SEUL - La Nord Corea ha bombardato con colpi di artiglieria l'isola sudcoreana di Yeonpyeong. L'esercito di Seul ha risposto al fuoco. Lo riferiscono i militari sudcoreani. La tv sudcoreana Ytn riferisce di edifici in fiamme, alcune decine. Fonti militari danno notizia di un soldato morto, altri tre gravi e almeno dieci feriti lievi. Secondo alcuni testimoni l'isola sarebbe ancora sotto i colpi dell'artiglieria. In arrivo i caccia di Seul.

Il governo sucoreano riunito in un bunker presidenziale. Al termine del vertice il presidente Lee Myung-bak ha detto che sta cercando di impedire che lo scambio di colpi di artiglieria con il Nord scateni una escalation in un conflitto più ampio, ma che se le "provocazioni continueranno" la risposta sarà "più forte".

La Cina ha espresso "forte preoccupazione" per la situazione

SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on Tuesday after dozens of shells fired from the North struck a South Korean island near the countries’ disputed western sea border, South Korean military officials said.

The South Korean military immediately went to “crisis status,” said a Defense Ministry official. There were widespread media reports that Seoul had scrambled F-16 fighter jets but the official declined to confirm whether the planes were in the air.

The South Korean broadcaster YTN reported that one marine had been killed and three others seriously wounded in the shelling on the island, in addition to two civilian casualties. TV footage showed large plumes of black smoke spiraling from the island.

South Korean artillery units returned fire after the North’s shells struck South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island at 2:34 p.m., said Kiyheon Kwon, an official at the Defense Ministry . The North also fired numerous rounds into the Yellow Sea, he said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he was trying to prevent the clash from escalating into a greater conflict, Reuters reported, quoting the Yonhap news agency. YTN television reported that Seoul had warned of a stronger response if the North continued with provocations.

China expressed concern, Reuters reported, quoting a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hong Lei, as telling a news conference that both sides of the Korean peninsula should “do more to contribute to peace.”

He said it was imperative to return to six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters said.

The shelling came just days after an American nuclear scientist who visited North Korea earlier this month said he had been shown a vast new facility built secretly and rapidly to enrich uranium.

The scientist, Siegfried S. Hecker, a Stanford professor who previously directed the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in an interview that he had been “stunned” by the sophistication of the new plant, where he saw “hundreds and hundreds” of centrifuges that had just been installed in a recently gutted building and operated from what he called “an ultra-modern control room.” The North Koreans claimed 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running, he said.

The development confronted the Obama administration with the prospect that North Korea country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb.

Whether the calculated revelation is a negotiating ploy by North Korea or a signal that it plans to accelerate its weapons program even as it goes through a perilous leadership change, it creates a new challenge for President Obama at a moment when his program for gradual, global nuclear disarmament appears imperiled at home and abroad.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris.

La Korea del Sud non e' affatto povera. E' messa meglio di alcuni paesi dell'Unione Europea

ma cerchi sempre il cazzo di flame...ovvio si riferisse alla NK

E allora metta il singolare.
E tu se non vuoi alimentare flame che non ci sono, non girare con i cazzi in bocca.

Mi riferivo principalmente alla NK, anche se non pensavo che la SK fosse messa cosí bene, stavo leggendo ora su wiki.. però..

Mi riferivo principalmente alla NK, anche se non pensavo che la SK fosse messa cosí bene, stavo leggendo ora su wiki.. però..

Eh? Scusa eh...ma dove vivi? Cioè tu non eri a conoscenza della potenza della tigre asiatica,del suo sviluppo,della sua economia?