The U.S. State Department praised on Monday Pyongyang's decision not to respond to South Korean military drills.
Contrary to its earlier warnings, Pyongyang decided not retaliate to what it called the latest "reckless military provocation" from Seoul, because shells from the drills, fired during 90-minute live-firing exercises on Yeonpyeong Island, landed south of the North's shores.
"This is the way countries are supposed to act," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement. "The South Korean exercise was defensive in nature. The North Koreans were notified in advance. There was no basis for a belligerent response,"
On November 23, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong, a front-line island at the maritime border between the countries, in response to South Korean drills in the Yellow Sea. The bombardment killed four people and led both countries to the brink of war.
North Korea does not recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line drawn up by the United Nations at the end of the 1950s Korean War and claims that shells fired during the South's drills violated its territory.
The incident drew fierce criticism of Pyongyang by the West and Japan and threats of military action from South Korea, while Russia and China called for restraint and reconciliation, RIA Novosti reported.
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