SEOUL, Thursday 9 December 2010 (AFP) - A South Korean local council plans to turn the site of homes ruined by North Korean shellfire into a public park to help raise awareness of the attack, a spokesman said Thursday.

Ongjin County, which oversees Yeonpyeong island near the contested Yellow Sea border, has asked for nine billion won (7.9 million dollars) for the project, the Munhwa afternoon newspaper said.

The North's artillery attack on November 23 killed two civilians and two marines, injured 18 other people, destroyed 29 homes and set hillsides and fields ablaze.

It was the first time a civilian area in the South had been shelled since the 1950-53 war.

"We plan to turn the ruins into a public park dedicated to the memory of the shelling attack on Yeonpyeong island," a spokesman for the county told AFP.

"But it depends whether owners of the homes and buildings destroyed by the shelling would give consent to this plan," he said, adding he was unable to give a cost figure.

Munhwa said 16 damaged or ruined buildings would be left in the park to keep the memory of the attack alive.

A lecture hall will be built where visitors can be briefed on the attack, the strategic importance of Yeonpyeong island and tensions in the Yellow Sea, it said.