SOUTH KOREAN PROTESTORS HAVE demanded their government take action after four people were killed when North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island earlier this week.

Demonstrators gathered outside the defence ministry in Seoul, Al Jazeera reports. The country’s defence minister quit two days after the attacks after public outcry.

Separately, around 1,000 South Korean marine veterans burned a North Korean flag as well as pictures of its leader and his expected heir.

Two marines and two civilians were killed when North Korea fired onto the island.

The South returned fire, but it is not clear which of the two began firing first. The incident is the most serious to have occurred on land since the Korean War in the 1950s.

South Korea was conducting military exercises on the island when the incident erupted.

The funeral services for the two marines who were killed were held today, according to the BBC.

North Korea has accused the South of using human shields around military positions on the island in an attempt to justify its bombing, according to the PA. The North has criticised joint South Korean-US plans to conduct a war game on Sunday with a US nuclear-powered aircraft.

China has sent delegates to the North in an effort to ease this week’s escalated tensions, according to Reuters.