North Korea planning live-fire drills near sea borders with South

North Korea, under pressure to return to disarmament talks, is planning live-fire exercises off near sea borders with the South, a South Korean agency on Friday, in a move that would raise tension on the troubled peninsula.                                           

North Korea is apparently using military threats against US ally South Korea to help strengthen its hand to win concessions from regional powers, as the hermit state appears ready to return to international talks on ending its nuclear arms programme.

But the North said in its official media that no amount of economic reward could ever persuade it to give up its atomic arms ambitions as long it is faced with the threat of attack from what it sees as a hostile United States.                                           

Last month, the two Koreas had a rare exchange of artillery fire near a disputed sea border, which resulted in no injuries or damage but prompted brief and temporary dips in Seoul stock markets and the South Korean won.                                           

North Korea said it would be firing from four spots on its west coast and two on its east coast from Saturday through Monday and declared them no-sail zones, the South's Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration said on its Internet site.

After the first exchange of fire with the South in late January, the North fired hundreds of shells towards a disputed sea border with the South over the next several days.

The additional firing by Pyongyang did not impact markets as investors have grown used to small-scale military grandstanding by the mercurial North.                                           

North Korea has boycotted for about a year six-country talks on ending its nuclear arms programme in exchange for massive aid to prop up its wobbly economy and an end to its international ostracism.                                           

The destitute state has come under pressure to return to the talks due to UN sanctions imposed after a May 2009 nuclear test that cut into its lucrative arms sales and a botched currency move that sparked inflation and led to rare civil unrest.  

Pyongyang's KCNA news agency said those who "think the DPRK (North Korea) may do such a stupid thing as dismantling its nukes in anticipation of 'economic reward' from outsiders" are "sadly mistaken".                                           

Few analysts feel leader Kim Jong-il would ever give up nuclear weapons, seen in the North as the crowning achievement of his "military first" rule and worth the enormous economic sacrifice because they have helped keep him in power.  

But Pyongyang has rolled back its nuclear arms programme and reduced the security threat it poses to economically vital North Asia in return for aid.