People on a South Korean border island were briefly ordered to shelter in bunkers Sunday after explosions were heard from the direction of North Korea, officials said.
Faint sounds of explosions — possibly artillery fire — were heard several times from the North's mainland, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.
People on Yeonpyeong island, which was hit by deadly North Korean shellfire five days ago, were ordered to take shelter for 40 minutes, an AFP photographer on the island said.
Dozens of reporters, along with soldiers and police and a few residents, headed for the bunkers.
"The order was lifted when no more sounds were heard," the spokesman said.
Tensions are acute after US and South Korean forces earlier Sunday launched a major naval exercise, designed as a show of force to the North.
Puongyang has said "no one can predict the ensuing consequences" if the US aircraft carrier George Washington, the flagship of the drill, enters the Yellow Sea.
The fleet is manoeuvring at least 120 km (75 miles) south of the disputed inter-Korean border.
The sound of artillery fire from the North was also heard last Friday, but no shells landed in the South's waters.
Hundreds of residents fled the island in the days after the November 23 bombardment, leaving only a few dozen villagers still living there.
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