North Korea lashed out at the United States Saturday for sending military personnel to support a planned South Korean artillery drill along a disputed maritime border, calling them a "human shield.", Yonhap reported.
The U.S., which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, is dispatching a group of 20 military personnel to assist a one-day live-fire drill the South plans to hold early next week on a front-line island shelled by North Korea last month. The Nov. 23. attack left two marines and two civilians dead.
Tensions along the maritime border has risen sharply as South Korea vowed to go ahead with the planned drill despite a North Korean threat to hit back harder.