Asia-Pacific

S.korean kills 4 fellow soldiers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-07-04 13:43

A South Korean marine went on a shooting spree on Monday at a base near the tense maritime border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), killing four fellow soldiers before trying to blow himself up with a grenade, officials and media reports said.

The incident was not related to the ongoing inter-Korean conflict which has simmered since 1953 when the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

A Defense Ministry official said the shooting took place at a base on Gangwha Island off the divided peninsula's west coast, the scene of numerous incidents between the rival Koreas in recent years.  

Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying the soldier later went inside a guard post and detonated a hand grenade in an apparent suicide attempt and sustained severe injuries.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the marine's actions.

In a similar incident in 2005, a South Korean private killed eight soldiers when he threw a hand grenade inside a border post barracks and fired dozens of gunshots.

Military service is compulsory in the South for all males.

Seoul has boosted its military presence in the West Sea area after blaming DPRK for two deadly attacks last year. It has warned of a swift and decisive response in the event of further armed aggression by its neighbour.

A total of 50 South Koreans were killed in last year's attacks -- the first involved the torpedoing of a South Korean warship while in the second an island was shelled.  

The North denies it was behind the ship sinking and said it was provoked into shelling the island by a South military drill in the area.