\"We will certainly avenge your deaths,\" Marine commander said at marines furenal.
On the eve of US-South Korea joint naval drill in the Yellow sea, Seoul on Saturday mourned two Marines killed in North Korean strikes last Tuesday, as the North warned against staging the drill.
Political leaders, top military brass, relatives and hundreds of uniformed troops attended the funeral, vowing to avenge the two marines killed along with two civilians in Tuesday attack.
"We will certainly avenge your deaths," Marine commander Lieutenant General Yoo Nak-Joon said at the ceremony for Sergeant Suh Jung-Woo, 22, and Private Moon Kwang-Wook, 20, held in a packed hall at a military hospital near Seoul.
On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island, triggering an exchange of fire as southern armed forces went on their highest state of alert.
Also on Saturday North Korea warned of "unpredictable consequences" if the United States and South Korea go ahead with the naval exercises in the Yellow Sea.
"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences,” North Korea\'s official KCNA news agency issued an ominous warning.
KCNA also said two civilian deaths from its artillery strike on Tuesday were "if true... very regrettable" but also charged they had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.
Nuclear-powered carrier the USS George Washington and its battle group were heading for waters west of the Korean peninsula for four days of exercises from Sunday, which have angered the North and its main ally, China.
China has resisted taking sides in the worst flare-up in decades between the Koreas, only generally urging calm after the attack, in which South Korean forces returned artillery fire at North Korean coastal positions.
Beijing was more outspoken in its opposition to the US-South Korean drills.
"We hold a consistent and clear-cut stance on the issue," China\'s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement Friday.
"We oppose any party to take any military actions in our exclusive economic zone without permission," it said, referring to the sea area that stretches 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from a country\'s shores.
On Friday, the North staged an artillery firing drill near the Southern border, warning that the upcoming naval exercises at the weekend would bring the war closer.
Political leaders, top military brass, relatives and hundreds of uniformed troops attended the funeral, vowing to avenge the two marines killed along with two civilians in Tuesday attack.
"We will certainly avenge your deaths," Marine commander Lieutenant General Yoo Nak-Joon said at the ceremony for Sergeant Suh Jung-Woo, 22, and Private Moon Kwang-Wook, 20, held in a packed hall at a military hospital near Seoul.
On Tuesday, Pyongyang fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island, triggering an exchange of fire as southern armed forces went on their highest state of alert.
Also on Saturday North Korea warned of "unpredictable consequences" if the United States and South Korea go ahead with the naval exercises in the Yellow Sea.
"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences,” North Korea\'s official KCNA news agency issued an ominous warning.
KCNA also said two civilian deaths from its artillery strike on Tuesday were "if true... very regrettable" but also charged they had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.
Nuclear-powered carrier the USS George Washington and its battle group were heading for waters west of the Korean peninsula for four days of exercises from Sunday, which have angered the North and its main ally, China.
China has resisted taking sides in the worst flare-up in decades between the Koreas, only generally urging calm after the attack, in which South Korean forces returned artillery fire at North Korean coastal positions.
Beijing was more outspoken in its opposition to the US-South Korean drills.
"We hold a consistent and clear-cut stance on the issue," China\'s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement Friday.
"We oppose any party to take any military actions in our exclusive economic zone without permission," it said, referring to the sea area that stretches 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from a country\'s shores.
On Friday, the North staged an artillery firing drill near the Southern border, warning that the upcoming naval exercises at the weekend would bring the war closer.
