Minister quits in storm over Korean shelling

The move came as President Lee Myung-bak vowed to send more troops to the front-line South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, as residents tried to salvage belongings from the blackened wreckage of their homes. North Korea warned of additional attacks if provoked.

Hours before defence minister Kim Tae-young's resignation, MPs had lashed out at the government, claiming officials were unprepared for Tuesday's attack and that the military response to the North's barrage was too slow. Even those in Lee's ruling party demanded Kim's dismissal as well as those of military leaders and some presidential aides.

Lee accepted Kim's resignation and a new defence chief will be announced today, presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee said.

Skirmishes between the Korean militaries are not uncommon, but North Korea's heavy bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island was the first on a civilian area, raising fears of an escalation that could lead to a new war on the Korean peninsula. South Korean troops had returned fire and scrambled fighter jets in response.

Seoul and Washington ratcheted up pressure on China to rein in its ally North Korea, and China yesterday urged both sides to show restraint.

Reporters allowed for the first time on to the island found streets strewn with broken glass and charred debris.

Blackened beer bottles lay beside what was left of a supermarket as coastguard officers patrolled in pairs past deserted offices and schools used by relief workers for meetings and meals.

Many residents fled as quickly as they could, but restaurant owner Lee In-ku, 46, joined a handful of villagers trying to salvage belongings from half-destroyed homes.

"It was a sea of fire," Lee said of Tuesday's attack. "Many houses were burning and many people were just running around in confusion. It was real chaos."

At an emergency meeting in Seoul yesterday, President Lee ordered top-level weapons for troops in the tense Yellow Sea.

"We should not ease our sense of crisis in preparation for the possibility of another provocation by North Korea," presidential spokesman Hong Sang-pyo quoted Lee as saying. "A provocation like this can recur any time."

Hong said South Korea will sharply raise the number of ground troops on Yeonpyeong and four other islands, reversing a 2006 decision to draw down forces. He declined to discuss specifics but said troops there currently are about 4,000.

He also said the military would change its rules of engagement to better counter North Korean provocations.

The defence minister's resignation came hours after he visited Yeonpyeong, home to military bases as well as a fishing community of 1,300 residents. It lies about 50 miles from South Korea's western port of Incheon, and just seven miles from North Korean shores.

Two marines and two civilians were killed in Tuesday's exchange, and at least 18 people – most of them troops – were wounded.

Marine Lt Col Joo Jong-wha acknowledged that the island is acutely short of artillery, saying it has only six pieces, the howitzers used in Tuesday's skirmish.

"In artillery, you're supposed to move on after firing to mask your location so that they don't strike right back at you. But we have too few artillery," he said.

Military officials analysing debris have not ruled out North Korea's use of thermobaric bombs, which burn more violently and increase casualties and property destruction.

The attack alarmed world leaders, including President Barack Obama, who reaffirmed plans for joint manoeuvres with Seoul involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea starting on Sunday.

Uneasy peace on the front line

The two Koreas are required to abide by an armistice signed at the close of their three-year war but the North does not recognise the maritime line drawn by UN forces in 1953 and considers South Korean manoeuvres near Yeonpyeong island a violation of its territory.

South Korea was conducting firing drills, though not in North Korea's direction, when the artillery barrage came on Tuesday.

The attack added to animosity from the March sinking of a South Korean warship in nearby waters that killed 46 sailors in the worst military attack on the nation since the Korean War.

The shelling occurred as North Korea is undergoing a delicate transition of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his young son Kim Jong Un.