Pensioner Jung Eun Jin no longer feels safe in her home after a bombardment of shells landed precariously close to her quaint little island earlier this year.

Yeongpyeong is only 3 kilometres from the border of North Korea and is part a chain called the Five West Sea Islands, which were once considered Pyongyang’s territory.

Often, the area is calm. But the threat of conflict became real when the North opened fire on the South Korean island in January.

About 200 artillery shells landed in the waters nearby, forcing people to seek safety in bomb shelters that dot the island.

Months later, Ms Jung is still coming to terms with what happened.

“At night, even a small noise makes me anxious,” Ms Jung said.

“I can’t sleep with the lights off, I have to keep the TV on, always worried about what might happen.

“My family isn’t here. I’m alone.”

No-one was injured in the attacks in January, but it was a reminder of the dangers that lie on the horizon.

“People are just uneasy,” Ms Jung said.

“We don’t know when it might happen again.”

As residents anxiously wait for another attack, some are reminded of the last time war came to their doorstep.

The island at the centre of a war

While many residents in South Korea have learned to ignore Pyongyang’s posturing, it’s different for those who live on Yeongpyeong.

Islands controlled by North Korea are easily visible from the shoreline, while the mainland can be seen on a clear day.

The proximity to its volatile neighbour isn’t the only thing that makes Yeongpyeong island unique.

It has also been attacked before.

In 2010, two civilians and two military personnel were killed when North Korea shelled the island, in apparent retaliation for South Korean military exercises.

Analysts at the time said it was one of the worst clashes on the Korean peninsula since the end of the war.

Since then, eight government bunkers have undergone major upgrades.

Each are equipped with enough food for occupants to survive underground for a week as well as medical equipment, gas masks, bedding, showers, and a giant screen that broadcasts images from outside.

Due to their proximity and possibility of attack, the island performs regular tests of its emergency system.

So when alarms blared all over the island in January, residents knew they needed to seek shelter.

For four hours, locals took cover where they could as North Korean artillery shells landed precariously close to their little island.

Seoul officials called the North Korean drills a provocation, though the area suffered no damage, and later confirmed they had conducted “corresponding” live firing drills.

“We sternly warn that North Korea bears full responsibility for this escalating crisis and strongly urge them to immediately cease these actions,” the defence ministry said at the time.

But Mr Yu described the order as a precautionary measure, rather than an actual emergency.

“I do tend to follow the news more, checking for North Korean provocations or missile launches,” he said.

“But that’s more to stay informed, not because I feel my life is threatened.”

While he seemed more relaxed about the escalation in January, he acknowledged others might not feel the same.

“For residents who have experienced the home attack before, they may feel more anxious than I do,” he said.

Escalating tensions between North and South Korea

Relations between North and South Korea are at their lowest point in decades, after North Korea ramped up its warmongering rhetoric and started testing a flurry of weapons.

Last year, both sides abandoned a deal that prohibited military activities on the border.

The shift in North Korean posturing recently has prompted an uptick in speculation that North Korea might be angling for a conflict.

“Now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for war than ever before,” said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a military academy in April.

Local fisherman Park Tae-won tries to keep his mind off the issue of war, as he trawls the local waters.

But he can’t ignore that North Korea’s threats have become much more menacing.

“North Korea won’t give in, and they are always trying to gain something, which puts a lot of pressure on us living here,” he said.

“If they decide to strike one day, Yeongpyeong Island could be devastated.”

But many analysts in Seoul are not concerned North Korea will attack, despite Pyongyang’s threatening language and command of a larger army than South Korea.

One key reason they point to is that the North’s military suffers from a lack of sophisticated technology.

“North Korea is in no strategic position, and it does not have sufficient strategic and military capability to actually carry out those rhetoric of war,” said Bong Youngshik Daniel, from Yonsei University.

North Korea is trying to improve its military capability

To address this gap, Pyongyang has embarked on an ambitious five-year plan to develop five new types of advanced weapons systems.

It lead to a multitude of weapon systems tests, which has included more traditional weapons — including intercontinental ballistic missiles — to the more bizarre, such as underwater drones.

The North boasts each test is another success but Dr Bong is doubtful this is the case, stating the country is trying a scattergun approach to see what works.

“It is true that North Korea succeeded in sending military spy satellite into the orbit last year,” he said.

“Whether the North Korean spy satellite is actually functioning in terms of sending militarily useful, high-resolution photographs [is another matter].”

North Korea has also boasted of a deal with Russia that will see it access some of Moscow’s sensitive technology.

But, again, Dr Bong believes there is not a lot of substance behind the grand claims.

“The areas of cooperation and assistance both sides have so far agreed upon is only limited to Russian tourists to North Korea and supply of the food and energy assistance to North Korea.

“There is nothing as serious as military spy satellite technology or nuclear weapons.”

North Korea’s second attempt to deploy a satellite into space failed this week, but the country aims to launch three more satellites this year.

Is peace an option?

North Korea and South Korea are technically at war, with only a ceasefire ending the Korean War, rather than a peace deal.

Any hope of the two Koreans coming together again has long been dismissed as a pipe dream.

Younger South Koreans simply have no interest in reunification, while Mr Kim is seeking to amend the country’s constitution to change the status of South Korea as a separate country.

Some islanders are content in the status quo.

“Those bastards can’t do anything, our country protects us well,” one elderly woman told the ABC.

But others hope for an end to uncertainty.

“What we want is peace,” Mr Park said.

“That’s what we want — a peace agreement.”