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Pyongyang, Nov 24 (ANI): Kim Jong-un, the youngest son and heir apparent to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has been accused of carrying out yesterday’s attack on South Korean territory with an intention to “mobilise the military and consolidate his power”, according to an expert.

North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells on a South Korean border island, killing a South Korean soldier and injuring 12 others on Tuesday. There were reports of civilian injuries and houses were set ablaze as scores of shells fell on Yeonpyeong island.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted a North Korea expert at Beijing’s Central Party School, Zhang Liangui, as saying that Kim Jong-un was deliberately destabilising the environment in order to mobilise the military and consolidate his power.

Meanwhile the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, held an emergency meeting and told officials to ‘respond sternly’ but to avoid worsening the situation. The military were placed on high alert.

North Korea however accused South Korea of initiating the firing.

‘The South Korean enemy, despite our repeated warnings, committed reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory near Yeonpyeong island,’ the military supreme command in the statement carried by the official news agency.

“North Korea’s military will continue to make merciless military attacks with no hesitation if the South Korean enemy dares to invade our sea territory by 0.001 mm. It is our military’s traditional response to quell provocative actions with a merciless thunderbolt,’ it added.

The relationship between the two countries worsened after March 26 this year when the ROK Navy warship “The Cheonan,” with 104 crew members onboard, went down off the ROK island of Baekryeong due to an unexplained explosion. Forty-six sailors were killed.

In October, the first military talks in two years between the North Korea and South Korea reportedly ended without progress as Pyongyang refused to apologize for the sinking of ‘The Cheonan,’ an ROK warship.

Meanwhile some American scientists had expressed shock this week after visiting North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, saying that a row of centrifuges have been designed to enrich uranium. (ANI)