Bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island

Also called: Yeonpyeong Island shelling

North Korea fired some 170 shells at Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines and two civilians — the first direct North Korean shelling of a civilian-inhabited area of South Korean territory since the armistice.

At about 2:34 p.m. on 23 November 2010 North Korea fired some 170 rounds from coastal artillery and multiple rocket launchers at the military base and villages on Yeonpyeong Island, citing a South Korean marine live-fire exercise at sea that morning. The marines returned about 80 rounds at North Korean positions with K9 self-propelled guns.

Sergeant Seo Jeong-woo and Private First Class Moon Gwang-wook of the marines were killed, two civilian construction workers died, and several soldiers and civilians were wounded. Houses and facilities burned and most of the islanders fled. It was the first time since the armistice that North Korea had directly shelled a civilian-inhabited area of South Korean territory.