South Korean Marines staged a live-fire exercise Wednesday near the disputed Yellow Sea border with North Korea amid high tensions over a display of front-line Christmas lights.
The exercise involving self-propelled howitzers and a multiple rocket launch system was held on two islands -- Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Hundreds of island residents evacuated into safe zones during the two-hour drill, but there was no response from the North, it said.
A similar drill on Yeonpyeong in 2010 provoked a North Korean artillery barrage which killed four people and sparked international alarm.
The exercise came after the Marines strengthened guard around a giant display featuring thousands of glittering bulbs on a tree-shaped steel tower in Gimpo west of Seoul.
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