Beijing: Four North Korean soldiers told a state-run television program that they cheered and "celebrated victory" when they saw the North`s shelling ignite pillars of fire on a South Korean island, a Tokyo-based media monitoring agency reported.
It was the first time that North Korean military personnel involved in the deadly attack have appeared on North Korean media.
The unidentified soldiers told the Korean Central Television Station last night that servicemen in the four`s unit shouted, "Let us stake our lives and fight for Dear Comrade (Kim Jong Il), supreme commander of the Korean People`s Army," according to Tokyo-based Radiopress, which monitors North Korean media.
The TV program was meant to celebrate the 19th anniversary on Friday of Kim`s becoming supreme commander of the Army.
The four recalled that they and other members of the unit opened "retaliatory fire" against the enemy who first attacked them, saying, "Let us give the enemy merciless death."
On November 23, North Korea attacked Yeonpyeong Island with artillery, killing four people and causing extensive damage. Pyongyang claims the strike was in retaliation for an earlier live-fire exercise by South Korea during which shells fell into what the North claims as its territorial waters.
PTI
