S Korea to deploy artillery-locating radars following DPRK's artillery firing: media

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea is considering deploying artillery-locating radars in South Korean islands in the wake of a series of artillery firings from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) into waters near the islands, local media reported Friday.

The military is pushing ahead with the plan to deploy artillery- locating radars in Baekryeong and Yeonpyeong Islands, near the disputed maritime border called Northern Limit Line (NLL), Yonhap News Agency said citing a meeting between Seoul's Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and members of defense committee at parliament.

The defense ministry is also mulling deploying additional self- propelled howitzers in the islands as part of efforts to strengthen "defense posture," Yonhap said. The moves came after the DPRK earlier this week fired scores of artillery shells into waters north of the NLL off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, within the range of no-sail zones recently designated by the DPRK.

The contentious sea border, a constant source of tension between the two Koreas where the latest naval skirmish took place in November last year, was fixed unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the 1950-1953 Korean War.