SoKor evacuees tell of harrowing NoKor attack

INCHEON, South Korea — Exhausted evacuees from an island attacked by North Korean artillery are streaming off ships in South Korea's port city of Incheon. They are being greeted by tearful relatives and telling harrowing tales of an hour of panic and destruction on Tuesday when North Korea shelled the South Korean island near their disputed border, killing two marines and wounding 18 people. Lim Jung-eun, a 36 year-old housewife who escaped Yeonpyeong island with her three children, said she heard the sound of artillery and that: "Then the mountain caught on fire." President Barack Obama reaffirmed Washington's pledges to protect ally Seoul, saying that he agreed with the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, to go forward with joint military exercises in late November.— AP