North Korea on Friday staged an artillery drill within earshot of a South Korean island shelled earlier this week. Pyongyang also warned that an upcoming US-South Korean four-day naval exercise in the Yellow Sea starting on Sunday heightens the risk of war. The distant sound of the latest shelling sent residents of the front-line border island scrambling for air raid shelters, though South Korea said it appeared to be an exercise and no shells landed on its territory. China has previously come out strongly against such exercises in its backyard, saying they risk exacerbating tensions. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei today said Beijing opposes any party to take any military actions in its exclusive economic zone without permission. The US military says the exercise is defensive and was planned well before the North's unprovoked artillery attack, but that it demonstrated the US commitment to regional stability through deterrence. Meanwhile, South Korea has nominated a former military chief Kim Kwan-jin as its new Defence Minister. American commander of United Nations Command, General Walter L. Sharp, today visited the island of Yeonpyeong to speak with military commanders and observe the damage caused by the North’s attack. He called for the North to refrain from more attacks and meet with the U.N. Command immediately to discuss the incident.