South Korea warned North Korea to stop provocations against Seoul, saying they would eventually lead to the communist country's self-destruction.

The warning by the defense ministry came hours after Pyongyang said that South Korea "should never forget the lesson from the bitter defeat" in the shelling of Yeonpyeong and "the mad provokers are bound to be beaten or killed by the (North) Korean People's Army."

Sunday marks the fourth anniversary of North Korea's shelling of the South's front-line island of Yeonpyeong, which killed two Marines and two civilians and wounded 16 others. It was the North's first artillery attack on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.   

"Not so much as extending an apology and punishing those responsible, North Korea has continued the shameless action of passing the buck for its Yeonpyeong provocation to our side," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a regular briefing.

"It should heed the fact that its provocations are the worst decision that will cause nothing but self-destruction."

Noting that the South Korean military has beefed up capabilities along the northwestern islands and the nearby waters in the Yellow Sea to counter possible attacks by the bellicose regime, he stressed the South Korean military is determined to retaliate mercilessly.

"As we've made clear repeatedly, our military will strike back, without any hesitation or consideration, at not only the origin of (North Korea's) attack but its supporting and commanding forces,"

Kim said. "We are closely watching the North's movements along the whole border on a real-time basis."

In the wake of the 2010 shelling, South Korea established the Northwest Islands Defense Command the following year for enhanced capabilities along the sensitive maritime border and deployed an additional 1,200 troops as well as radar, attack helicopters and rockets.

The military has also been pushing to set up a new combat unit in the Yellow Sea region armed with high-speed rigid inflatable boats and landing craft air cushions, and to set up a system for unmanned aerial vehicles and launch aerostats, according to the defense ministry. (Yonhap)