North Korea accused the United States and South Korean "puppet warmongers" of pushing the peninsula to the brink of war.
Despite North Korean threats of deadly response, South Korea started a live-fire military exercise on a border island Monday, as UN diplomacy failed to agree on a statement concerning the Korean crisis.
"The drill has started," a South Korean ministry spokesman told AFP around 2:30 pm.
"Our armed forces are now on alert and jet fighters are on airborne alert," the ministry spokesman said.
Yonhap news agency said two destroyers had also been deployed in forward positions in the Yellow Sea.
Also on Monday, North Korea accused the United States and South Korean "puppet warmongers" of pushing the peninsula to the brink of war
"It is a vital task for defusing the ever-increasing danger of a war and protecting the nation's destiny to avert a war and defend peace," said ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, referring to Koreans on both sides of the border.
The North last month bombarded Yeonpyeong Island near the contested Yellow Sea border, killing two marines and two civilians and damaging dozens of homes.
It says it acted in response to a South Korean artillery drill, and has vowed to hit back harder if a new exercise is held on the island this week.
The response "will be deadlier than what was made on November 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike", its military said Friday.
Rodong Sinmun Monday repeated that the South had provoked last month's shelling.
"Only when all the Koreans get united as one and wage a bold struggle for defending peace against war, can they surely check and frustrate the moves of outside forces and the puppet warmongers to provoke a new war," it said.
But in an apparent sign of compromise over its nuclear ambitions, CNN said North Korea had agreed with US troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of UN atomic inspectors to ease tensions on the peninsula.
North Korea had agreed with Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN, to let inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency go back to its Yongbyon nuclear facility, Blitzer said.
It had also agreed to allow fuel rods for the enrichment of uranium to be shipped to an outside country, and to the creation of a military commission and hotline between the two Koreas and the United States, Blitzer said.
At the UN, China fended off Western demands that its ally North Korea be publicly condemned for the November 23 artillery assault, diplomats said.
They said it even rejected a proposed statement which did not mention North Korea or the name of Yeonpyeong.
Now we have a situation with very serious political tension and no game plan on the diplomatic side," said Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin.
The foreign ministers of China and Russia held telephone talks Saturday and urged South Korea to cancel its military exercise. But its ally the United States defended its right to self-defense.
"The drill has started," a South Korean ministry spokesman told AFP around 2:30 pm.
"Our armed forces are now on alert and jet fighters are on airborne alert," the ministry spokesman said.
Yonhap news agency said two destroyers had also been deployed in forward positions in the Yellow Sea.
Also on Monday, North Korea accused the United States and South Korean "puppet warmongers" of pushing the peninsula to the brink of war
"It is a vital task for defusing the ever-increasing danger of a war and protecting the nation's destiny to avert a war and defend peace," said ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, referring to Koreans on both sides of the border.
The North last month bombarded Yeonpyeong Island near the contested Yellow Sea border, killing two marines and two civilians and damaging dozens of homes.
It says it acted in response to a South Korean artillery drill, and has vowed to hit back harder if a new exercise is held on the island this week.
The response "will be deadlier than what was made on November 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike", its military said Friday.
Rodong Sinmun Monday repeated that the South had provoked last month's shelling.
"Only when all the Koreans get united as one and wage a bold struggle for defending peace against war, can they surely check and frustrate the moves of outside forces and the puppet warmongers to provoke a new war," it said.
But in an apparent sign of compromise over its nuclear ambitions, CNN said North Korea had agreed with US troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of UN atomic inspectors to ease tensions on the peninsula.
North Korea had agreed with Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN, to let inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency go back to its Yongbyon nuclear facility, Blitzer said.
It had also agreed to allow fuel rods for the enrichment of uranium to be shipped to an outside country, and to the creation of a military commission and hotline between the two Koreas and the United States, Blitzer said.
At the UN, China fended off Western demands that its ally North Korea be publicly condemned for the November 23 artillery assault, diplomats said.
They said it even rejected a proposed statement which did not mention North Korea or the name of Yeonpyeong.
Now we have a situation with very serious political tension and no game plan on the diplomatic side," said Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin.
The foreign ministers of China and Russia held telephone talks Saturday and urged South Korea to cancel its military exercise. But its ally the United States defended its right to self-defense.
