North & South Korea Exchange Fire
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Live from studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters. The news and information you need for this Tuesday, November 23rd. North Korea lobs heavy artillery at South Korea, and the South Korea</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's ridiculous. And I think the pat downs have gotten -- if he did it to me, he'd go to jail.</s>HARRIS: And a Tennessee soldier returns from the war in Afghanistan astonishing his shocked family.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A surprise two-week leave.</s>HARRIS: The surprise homecoming goes down at an NFL game. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM. But we begin with breaking news. We are standing by now awaiting news out of Aruba. As you know, there was a jawbone fragment found on the island. That bone fragment was sent to the Netherlands for analysis. We are waiting for a determination from the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office to tell us what the results of the testing have indicated, and this is the critical question. Is that jawbone linked to the Natalee Holloway case? Our Martin Savidge is on the island, and when we get any indication of any news when this press release, this statement is released, we will, of course, get to Marty, and we will bring you that information as soon as we get it. And we begin with the escalating tension between North and South Korea, two countries technically at war. This latest flashpoint comes on the hills of North Korea showing off its nuclear facilities. According to South Korea's defense ministry, the north fired artillery toward its disputed sea boarder, shelling an island in the yellow sea. South Korea was conducting military exercises at the time. Officials say the attack killed two South Korean troops and wounded 15 others. South Korea fired back and deployed fighter jets in response. The U.S. has more than 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea. Let's do this. Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence. And Chris, let me get the story here correct. North Korea says its territorial waters were violated by South Korean shells which landed essentially in their pond? Is that why it attacked?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Sort of. The South Koreans, Tony, were in the middle of a training exercise. I spoke with a defense official here at the Pentagon who said this exercise has been planned for some time and the South Koreans informed North Korea before they fired the first artillery shell. So, he says, you know, the firing of this artillery should not have come as a surprise to North Korea. But again, as the south started to conduct this drill, that angered the north, and the north with three separate barrages started shelling this island in South Korea. You mentioned, South Korea then responded. Now, hundreds of rounds were fired between the two of them over the course of about an hour, hour and a half, and again, I was told that Defense Secretary Robert Gates just got back from an overseas trip around midnight. He was briefed on the situation, and he was scheduled to speak with his counterpart in South Korea by the end of this morning. The reason Americans would be, you know, worried or concerned about this is because the war between the two Koreas never officially ended. They signed the armistice, but the U.S. is still pledged to defend South Korea, and there are tens of thousands of American troops there, more than 50 U.S. naval vessels there. So, that's why, obviously, the American people have a stake in what happens over in that area.</s>HARRIS: OK. So, Secretary Gates is getting briefed on this. Aside from that, has there been an official response to all of this from the Pentagon as of yet?</s>LAWRENCE: No. If you're talking about any sort of escalation of force or moving more naval vessels to that area, nothing like that. They're talking with their South Korean counterparts of this toll. The phrase is "taking stock of the situation."</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>LAWRENCE: Again, you know, they were saying, look, this just happened. They're still trying to fit the pieces together in like that, but as of right now, nothing that would escalate the situation any further.</s>HARRIS: Got you. OK. Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon for us. Chris, appreciate it. Thank you. A quick reminder here for those of you who don't necessarily remember your Korean War history. Here's a bit of reminder. Korea was divided into the north and south at the end of World War II. Five years later, in 1950, North Korea invaded the south hoping to unite the entire peninsula under communist rule. Two days later, President Truman, authorized U.S. forces to defend the south and stop the spread of communism. Three years later, in 1953, an armistice was signed ending the fighting, but there was no peace treaty, and technically, the Korean War is still not over. OK. Let's get back to Aruba now. And our Martin Savidge is there on the phone with us. And Marty, my understanding is, we may be close to getting some kind of a statement from the prosecutor's office?</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): That's correct, Tony. Yes, we've been told that it could be momentarily, that there is a statement that's going to be coming from the prosecutor's office. We understand that it will come in two ways. One, it could be transmitted electronically by e-mail. We'll also get a hard copy of some sort, and then we anticipate that the solicitor general will then come out for Aruba and deliver that statement, and also, perhaps, take some questions from reporters. You know, of course, all of this dates back to the jawbone that was discovered on about the 12th of November by tourists. It was turned into a hotel front desk that was DeVry Phoenix Hotel</s>HARRIS: OK. Martin Savidge there. And Marty, when you get anything on this, just give us a heads up. Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.