North Korea's military warned Sunday that it will retaliate if an upcoming South Korean firing drill violates the North's territorial waters.
A notice carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency warned residents of five islands near the sea border in the Yellow Sea to evacuate before the drills start Monday morning. However, South Korea has yet to say whether it actually has plans for artillery exercises Monday.
South Korea regularly conducts artillery exercises from front-line islands near the disputed border off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Such a drill triggered a North Korean artillery bombardment in November of 2010 that killed four South Koreans on the island of Yeonpyeong.