2 teens sent to prison for S.

Korean bullying suicide By Paula Hancocks, CNN February 20, 2012 -- Updated 1441 GMT (2241 HKT) Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- A South Korean court sentenced two teenagers to prison terms Monday after they admitted bullying a school classmate until he committed suicide. The two, both 15, were sentenced to terms of three years and three and a half years. The Daegu District Court said the teens' prison terms could be reduced by a year, depending on their behavior while in prison, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Beginning in April 2011, the two forced the victim to play online games on their behalf, took the game winnings and beat him frequently, according to the court. The teens also admitted to taking food from the victim's home, pushing his head into the sink and forcing him to eat biscuits off the ground, the court said. Battling South Korea's bullies The victim killed himself by jumping off a building last December, naming his assailants in a suicide note. The incident sent shock waves across the country and led to police and prosecutors cracking down on school bullying. While neither of the plaintiffs have a criminal record, the court said in a statement, prison terms were issued because of the outcome and seriousness of the crime and high public criticism. The parents of the bullied student, who are both schoolteachers, filed suit earlier this month against the school, its head teacher and principal, and the parents of both convicted middle school students, Yonhap said. South Korea carries out military drill despite threats from North By the CNN Wire Staff February 20, 2012 -- Updated 1031 GMT (1831 HKT) Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea fired live artillery on Monday in a military drill near the country's heavily armed border with North Korea, which has described the exercise as a provocation. The drill Monday involved howitzers, mortars and attack helicopters, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. It took place on islands off the west coast of the Korean peninsula where tensions have flared in the past. Seoul notified the North on Sunday of the drill, a regular live-fire exercise that lasts an hour. About 1,000 island residents were moved to safe areas during the drill, Yonhap reported, citing military officials. "This is a very dangerous play with fire to ignite a war against the North as it is a clear declaration of war against it," Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday, citing a bulletin from the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. New book on Kim Jong Il's eldest son In late 2010, North Korea responded to a South Korean military exercise in the same area by firing artillery at Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. "If the puppet warmongers preempt reckless firing despite our warning, they will not escape punishment thousands-fold severer" than the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, the bulletin said. It identified "the puppet warmongers" as being South Korea and the United States, which has tens of thousands of troops in South Korea. The death in December of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the subsequent anointment of his son and chosen successor, Kim Jong Un, has created uncertainty about the future direction of the secretive regime in Pyongyang. Further tensions over military maneuvers on the Korean peninsula are expected in the coming weeks. There are two joint exercises planned involving thousands of U.S. and South Korean forces scheduled between February and April.