SEOUL -- North Korea fired artillery and South Korea responded with warning shots along their disputed western sea border on Wednesday, but there were no reports of casualties and the North vowed more barrages would follow as part of a military drill. North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. He said no casualties or damage were reported, and that the North's artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South fired into the air. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy. On Wednesday, North Korea issued a statement saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so. Such drills "will go on in the same waters in the future," the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North fired more shots later Wednesday but South Korea didn't respond, a Defense Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity due to department policy.
