North Korea blames South for "extreme" tension

North Korea said South Korea was raising tension on the Korean peninsula to an "uncontrollable extreme phase" by holding military exercises with the United States and planning a live-firing drill yesterday by navy ships.

South Korea "is so hellbent on the moves to escalate the confrontation and start a war that it is recklessly behaving bereft of reason," the state-run Korea Central News Agency said. North Korea is "now maintaining a maximum self-possession and self- control," it said.

Yesterday's drills included live firing from ships into seas near Daecheong Island, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. North Korea said the exercise would result in shells landing in its territorial waters.

Tensions have increased since North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong island Nov. 23, killing two soldiers and two civilians. South Korea's new defense minister, Kim Kwan Jin, vowed retaliation that would include airstrikes if the North attacks again.

"I will mobilize all combat capabilities available to severely punish the enemy," Kim, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. " This is a matter of self-defense."

The South Korean government warned ships to avoid 29 areas around its coast before yesterday's drill. One zone lies about 7 miles off Daecheong, in waters claimed by North Korea that are about 100 miles from the South Korean mainland.

Artillery was fired at the fishing community and military outpost of Yeonpyeong in the first shelling of South Korean soil since the 1950-1953 war. The North said it was responding to a provocation after the South fired into waters each country claims as its own.