Death toll rises after North Korea's missile attack on South Korea

The bodies of two civilians have been found on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, a day after it was shelled by North Korean artillery bringing the death toll to four. However, North Korea have said that South Korea was worsening ties on the peninsula with "reckless military provocation," and by postponing humanitarian aid. Above, survivors arrive at the port of Incheon after being evacuated from Yeonpyeong Island

 

Destroyed houses are pictured following artillery exchange between North and South Korea in Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea

North Korea

America is bringing the Korean peninsula "to the brink of war" North Korea warned on Friday as tension continues to build ahead of a four-day US-South Korean joint war game that starts this weekend.

The latest broadside from the regime of Kim Jong-il was issued as a US carrier battle group led by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington steamed towards the Yellow Sea in a show of deterrent force to Pyongyang.

"The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war," warned a dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency said. "Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served only." All morning North Korean state television and radio blared out martial music interspersed with official statements about the shelling of South Korean's Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday which left four people dead and destroyed houses and parts of a military base.

In a further show of US solidarity with Seoul, Gen. Walter Sharp, the US military commander in South Korea, visited the shelled island, touring burned buildings and stating again that the attack was a violation of the ceasefire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Yonhap news agency said the victims, who were earlier reported missing, were among 12 construction workers who had been building barracks for marines stationed on the island. The military earlier said the shellfire killed two marines based on Yeonpyeong island and injured 15 marines plus three civilians

At least 700 people have fled Yeonpyeong, which is home to at least 1,500 civilians and a permanent military base

Protesters burn North Korean flags at a rally in Seoul

The mother of one of the marines killed by a North Korean artillery attack cries at the funeral altar set up for her son at a military hospital in Seongnam, south of Seoul

South Korean coast guards carry relief goods onto a police ship which will depart to Yeonpyeong island from the port of Incheon

Currency traders monitor exchange rates in a dealing room at the Korea Exchange Bank in Seoul

INFO - The Telegraph