South Korea began live fire drills Monday in the Yellow Sea near its border with North Korea, a day after Pyongyang threatened retaliation, DPA reported.
Seoul called the exercises "routine." They were being conducted near islands off North and South Korea's west coast.
Similar drills triggered a North Korean artillery bombardment in November 2010 that killed four South Koreans on Yeonpyeong Island.
The two Koreas dispute the sea border. Yeonpyeong is 12 kilometres from North Korea's coast and 3 kilometres south of the sea border established by the United Nations after the Korean War. North Korea does not recognize that border and has said it should run south of Yeonpyeong.
The area has long been a source of tension between the two neighbours not only because of its location but also its rich fishing grounds. Naval clashes have occurred nearby in 1999, 2002 and 2009.
North Korea warned Sunday that it would "mercilessly retaliate" if Monday's drills violate its territorial waters. It accused the South of "reckless military provocation" and warned its government not to forget "the lesson" of Yeonpyeong Island.
South Korea and the United States plan separate submarine drills from Monday to Friday, also in the Yellow Sea. They are aimed at countering North Korean subs. They were the second such exercises to be held this year, South Korea's military said.
Before the drills began, about 1,000 residents of the nearby border islands were evacuated, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.
South Korea and the US regularly hold military drills throughout the year to improve their readiness for a potential North Korean attack. Pyongyang denounces the manoeuvres as preparations for an invasion of North Korea.
Nearly 30,000 US troops remained stationed in South Korea in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.
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