North Korea deployed surface-to-air missiles near its disputed Yellow Sea border with South Korea after issuing dire warnings against the naval drill involving a US aircraft carrier and at least 10 other warships, Yonhap said.

Artillery fire was heard near the flashpoint island of Yeonpyeong, the news agency and YTN television reported, just minutes after residents were ordered by the military to seek refuge.

An AFP photographer said he was sharing a bunker with military and police officers, residents and reporters following a loudspeaker warning. Hundreds of other villagers fled after last week's shelling, which killed four people.

The all-clear sounded after about 40 minutes, the photographer said. There was no immediate official comment from South Korea.

After last week's shelling, North Korea's first bombardment of South Korean civilians since the 1950-53 war, Washington and Seoul brought forward their naval exercise and deployed their ships Sunday in waters near China.

The United States insists that the drill -- which has been criticised by Beijing -- is defensive in nature and was planned long before the attack, but says it is intended to send a message of deterrence to the North.

The four-day exercise is a bristling show of force led by the 97,000-ton nuclear-powered carrier USS George Washington, which can carry about 75 aircraft on its 1.8 hectare (4.5 acre) flight deck and has a crew of 5,500.

The drill involves thousands of service personnel and was taking place off South Korea's southwest coast, far from the inter-Korean border, according to coordinates given by Seoul officials.

Pyongyang has warned that the new war games mean the peninsula "is inching closer to the brink of war".

"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences," the North's official news agency said Saturday, in the latest of a series of warnings following Tuesday's bombardment.

The drill is one of a series announced in May, after a Seoul-led multinational investigation found overwhelming evidence that a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in March.

That incident, which cost 46 lives, sparked anger in the South. But Tuesday's bombardment directly targeted civilian areas and was seen as more shocking.

The North claims it acted in retaliation to a South Korean firing drill in what it regards as its own waters around the contested border. On Saturday it said the two civilian deaths were "if true... very regrettable".

But it also charged that civilians on Yeonpyeong island -- which is home to a marine base -- had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak warned Saturday "there is a possibility that North Korea might commit wayward acts during the exercise", according to his spokesman.

Lee has come under pressure to take a tougher line against the North after the military's counter-fire last week was seen as feeble. His defence minister quit on Thursday to take responsibility.

"The intensity of the (naval) exercise will be greater than had been planned," Yonhap quoted a Seoul military source as saying.

"Participating forces will carry out firing and bombing drills."

Also taking part on the US side was an embarked carrier air wing and vessels the USS Cowpens, Lassen, Stethem and Fitzgerald.

Six South Korean warships, including a 7,600-ton Aegis-class destroyer, two 4,500-ton destroyers and frigates, as well as anti-submarine aircraft were joining the drill, the military in Seoul said.

The drill will also involve a high-flying US J-STARS (joint surveillance and target attack system) surveillance aircraft to monitor the North's military moves, Yonhap reported.

The exercise has raised tensions between Washington and Beijing, which regards the Yellow Sea as its backyard and has refrained from condemning its ally Pyongyang over Tuesday's attack.

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