S.Korean naval ship sinks in Yellow Sea, 40 sailors missing

04:43 27/03/2010

A South Korean naval ship sank in the Yellow Sea near the border with North Korea late on Friday, and more than 40 sailors are missing while 58 were rescued, local media reported.

The incident involving the Cheonan vessel forced South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to convene an emergency security meeting although there was reportedly no sign that North Korea was involved. Patrol boats and helicopters were deployed for a rescue operation.

The Navy, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency, said it has been "unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the incident" so far. Reports said an explosion in the ship’s rear could have ripped a hole in its bottom. The border between the two Koreas was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command in the wake of the 1950-1953 Korean War and has been a sticking point between the North and the South.

Pyongyang has not acknowledged the borderline and has drawn a new one on its own south of the current border. Naval clashes between the two states over the disputed area took place in 1999, 2002, 2009 and this year.

The two countries remain technically at war as their conflict ended only in an armistice in 1953.

MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100327/158326668.html

 Rescue operation on sunken S.Korean naval ship continues

07:44 27/03/2010

South Korea is continuing the rescue operation on its naval ship that sunk in the Yellow Sea near the border with North Korea late on Friday, with 46 sailors still missing, the Yonhap news agency reported Saturday. The incident involving the Cheonan vessel with a crew of 104 forced South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to convene two emergency security meetings. The president ordered a "quick and thorough" investigation into the incident. There was no sign that North Korea was involved.

The Navy said it has been unable to establish the exact cause of the incident but reports said an unidentified explosion could have made a hole in the ship’s bottom.

"We are going to focus all our efforts on rescuing the sailors for the time being," Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Park Sung-woo said as quoted by Yonhap.

The border between the two Koreas was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command in the wake of the 1950-1953 Korean War and has been a sticking point between the North and the South. Pyongyang has not acknowledged the borderline and has drawn a new one on its own south of the current border. Naval clashes between the two states over the disputed area took place in 1999, 2002, 2009 and this year.

The two countries remain technically at war as their conflict ended only in an armistice in 1953.

MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100327/158327354.html

 South Korea Mourns Victims of Warship Sinking

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: April 26, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea — Politicians, soldiers and citizens lined up in the rain on Monday to pay tribute to at least 40 sailors killed in the sinking of a warship, as the country inched closer to placing blame on North Korea and faced the urgent question of how it might respond.

A mother of a South Korean sailor who died kissed a portrait of her son during a memorial service in Pyeongtaek.

Mourners, including President Lee Myung-bak, placed long-stemmed white chrysanthemums on a funeral altar at City Hall Plaza in central Seoul. Citizens scribbled thousands of notes that voiced condolences for the sailors and bitter anger toward North Korea, and stuck them on billboards.

“I have never said this enough while you were alive: I love you,” wrote a person who identified herself as the sister of Lim Jae-yop, one of the 40 sailors confirmed dead. She pasted her note belowMr. Lim’s portrait. “In our next lives, let’s meet again as sister and brother.”

Grief gripped the nation a day after South Korea’s defense minister blamed a torpedo attack as the most likely cause of the March 26 sinking of the ship, the Cheonan, which also left six sailors missing and presumed dead.

Although it has yet to present evidence of North Korean involvement, the conservative government in Seoul helped raise a patriotic sentiment, describing the dead as “46 brave sailors” and honoring them with military medals usually reserved for combat deaths. The North has denied sinking the ship.

The defense minister, Kim Tae-young, did not mention the North in his remarks Sunday, continuing a cautious government approach that reflects the lack of good options available to South Korea’s leaders if they decide that North Korea was responsible for what would be one of the most serious attacks since the Korean War ended in a truce.

Any military retaliation could provoke a response from a country with the capacity to strike Seoul and a mercurial leader who has proved to be violent and unpredictable. A lesser response, hard-liners in the South argue, could lead the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to conclude that he could lash out again without facing consequences.

“Whether he finds evidence of North Korean involvement or not, President Lee will face much difficulty,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The announcement on Sunday by Mr. Kim appeared to fit a pattern that some analysts say shows the government is carefully building a case for a limited response — doling out information slowly enough so emotions ease before a final assignment of blame. Or, as Mr. Yang predicted, the South may leave it as “a cold case and North Korea as just that: a suspect.” Mr. Kim’s statement came two days after South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, met with two former presidents in what was understood in Confucian Korea as an attempt to consult elders and build consensus about how to proceed. The two former presidents, Chun Doo-hwan and Kim Young-sam, once again proved their bona fides as hard-liners on the North, speaking emotionally about past attacks by the Pyongyang government — including a bombing in 1983 that killed several cabinet members.

Both men also expressed certainty that North Korea was behind the ship’s sinking and urged Mr. Lee to deal “resolutely” with the North. But, significantly, neither mentioned the possibility of even a limited military attack, instead recommending harsh economic punishment, including the possibility of further dismantling the “Sunshine Policy”of reaching out to the North with aid and business ventures.

The meeting could provide political cover for Mr. Lee with fellow conservatives since Mr. Chun, a former military dictator, and Mr. Kim, a dissident turned conservative, remain two of the country’s most prominent anti-Communists. During Mr. Chun’s harsh rule, those who argued for better relations with the North were often imprisoned and sometimes tortured, as were those who wrote or read books that cast the North in anything but an intensely critical light.

On Monday, many people who lined up to pay tribute appeared to believe that North Korea was to blame. But few called for military retaliation even if it is determined that North Korea is responsible. “No! A military action will only cost more lives,” said Yeo Yon-ok, 52, a fishmonger who visited the funeral altar with her 13-year-old daughter.

“We must find another way to make North Korea suffer, perhaps through the United Nations. Although our country has become a global economy, the sad sacrifices of these young men remind us of the pain of our divided nation.’

Even under its most virulent anti-Communist leaders, South Korea has responded to past attacks, including the 1987 downing of a South Korean airliner, with palpable anger but little action. In at least one of those cases — the bombing that killed the cabinet members — a revenge attack was planned but never carried out. In others, under a liberal government, leaders reacted by trying harder to nudge the North back to the negotiating table on its nuclear program.

Those relatively mild responses were before the North effectively changed the calculus of retribution by forging ahead with a nuclear program, making what intelligence experts say is fuel for at least eight nuclear weapons, or possibly the bombs themselves.

Although it remains unclear if the North has the ability to deliver an effective nuclear weapon, it threatened last week to use what it called its “nuclear deterrent” if attacked. While watching a military drill last week, Kim Jong-il lauded his soldiers as “human rifles and bombs” or “suicide bombers.”

Any tough reaction from the South now could also frighten investors and harm the economy, which has been recovering quickly from the global financial crisis.

Given the stakes, analysts have been speculating for weeks about how Mr. Lee, who came to office promising a tougher stance against the North, would respond to the warship’s sinking.

Some speculated that even if he became convinced that North Korea was responsible, he would hide the evidence rather than put his country in jeopardy. North Korea, though impoverished, bristles with conventional weapons, including missiles, rockets and artillery that could ravage Seoul.

Other analysts have argued that Mr. Lee was planning just the opposite — calling in international inspectors for the ongoing examination of the ship to build support for a strong multilateral reaction if the North is guilty. Such a finding, they say, could help him bolster his argument that neither the United States nor China should give the North incentives to return to long-stalled nuclear talks, especially if those negotiations are unlikely to yield real change.

A determination of North Korean culpability could also help make the case for economic sanctions with teeth. History has shown that sanctions against the North cannot work unless China and other countries besides the United States join in.

But China has been resisted pushing North Korea hard, fearing a collapse in its struggling leadership that could send refugees flooding over the border. Mr. Lee is expected to discuss the sinking when he meets the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, during the 2010 Shanghai Expo on Friday.

Still, even Mr. Lee might be reluctant to go too far. He has been pushing for months to hold a summit meeting with Mr. Kim and might not want to give up that chance to show that his tougher approach, after years of what he calls liberal coddling, might yield results.

In the end, should it be determined that the North sank the ship, the greatest danger could be to the “Sunshine Policy,” a legacy of the last two liberal presidents.

The policy has already been faltering, with the South cutting all shipments of fertilizer and food after the North pulled out of nuclear talks and with the shutdown of a jointly operated tourist resort in the North after the North’s military killed a South Korean tourist.

Any further cutbacks could leave North Korea, which continues to grapple with food shortages and crippling inflation, even more desperate — a danger in itself.

“President Lee has no good options,” said Lee Byong-chul, senior fellow at the Seoul-based Institute for Peace and Cooperation. “So we may continue to see the government whipping up a conservative mood up until the June provincial elections but remaining ambiguous about whether North Korea did it — until the emotions taper off.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/asia/27korea.html?scp=10&sq=South%20Korea%20corvette&st=cse

 Traces of Explosive Found on Sunken S. Korean Ship

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: May 10, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea — Forensic experts investigating the wreckage of a South Korean warship that sank near the sea border with North Korea have found traces of an explosive component commonly used in torpedoes and mines, South Korea’s defense minister said Monday.

The 1,200-ton corvette, the Cheonan, sank on March 26 after a mysterious blast split the ship in half. The South Korean government has said a torpedo attack was the likely cause of the blast, and many South Koreans say they believe the North was responsible.

North Korea has denied any involvement in the sinking.

“It is true that traces of RDX, a chemical substance used in making torpedoes, have been found,” Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Monday, referring to a component common to many military explosives. He said that there was “a high possibility” that a torpedo was the cause of the explosion, but that it was also too soon to conclude definitively that it was the cause.

The material was found on the ship’s smokestack and in samples of sand from the site of the sinking, said Rear Adm. Moon Byung-ok, a spokesman for the investigation team. He noted that RDX is also used in making mines.

During the briefing on Monday, neither Mr. Kim nor Admiral Moon mentioned North Korea. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed or remain missing in the explosion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/world/asia/11korea.html?scp=8&sq=South%20Korea%20corvette&st=cse

 S.Korea briefs China on ship sinking blamed on North

Tue May 18, 2010 11:24pm EDT

By Jack Kim

SEOUL, May 19 (Reuters) - South Korea has briefed the Chinese ambassador on its findings on the sinking of a navy ship widely believed to be the work of North Korea, an issue that has created tension between the two major Asian trading partners.

South Korea is certain to formally lay the blame on the North when it announces on Thursday the findings by a team of international experts that include investigators from Sweden, Australia and the United States.

China’s Ambassador to South Korea Zhang Xinsen has been quoted as saying in local media that there did not appear to be clear evidence the North was the culprit in the March 26 attack off the Korean peninsula’s west coast that killed 26 sailors.

Zhang was among a small group of ambassadors who were briefed on the outcome of the probe on Tuesday, before a larger group is invited on Wednesday to receive the information, the foreign ministry said.

It did not provide details on Zhang’s response. There was no answer to calls made to the Chinese embassy in Seoul.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defence Ministry is taking a group of journalists to a navy port to display the wreckage of the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan, which snapped in two from what is believed to have been the impact of a torpedo near a disputed sea border on March 26.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan at the weekend that any conclusions must be based on scientific and objective evidence, in contrast to a more sympathetic response by Japan’s Katsuya Okada who expressed his support for Seoul’s efforts to probe the sinking.

South Korea has been recalling its workers staying in the North for the few private commercial projects with the prickly state that remain. But there was no plan order the return of hundreds of South Koreans who work at the Kaesong industrial park just north of the border, where South Korean companies employ cheap North Korean labour to produce kitchenware, apparel and watches, according to the unification ministry

China, the North’s only major ally, irritated South Korea earlier this month by hosting the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on a rare trip abroad — before the outcome of the investigation was announced.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Seoul on May 26 in what analysts view as a show of solidarity with the long-time U.S. ally.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE64I01O

 N.Korea warns of war if South retaliates over ship

Wed May 19, 2010 9:50pm EDT

SEOUL, May 20 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would take strong measures, including war, if the South imposes sanctions after accusing it of sinking a navy ship, Yonhap news agency said.

The North’s National Defence Commission said in a statement carried on its state radio, and monitored by Yonhap, that the South’s findings blaming it for the sinking of the navy corvette were a fabrication.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSEU003062

 South Korean Official Says It’s ’Obvious’ North Korea Sank Ship

South Korean navy personnel search for survivors and bodies from the sunken "Cheonan" near the border with North Korea in late March. May 19, 2010 South Korea’s foreign minister says it is "obvious" that North Korean forces were responsible for the sinking of a South Korean naval ship in March.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in Seoul today that he believes there is enough evidence to take the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

The minister spoke ahead of the May 20 scheduled release of the official results of an investigation into the March 26 sinking of the warship "Cheonan" that left 46 South Korean sailors dead.

North Korea has denied any involvement in the sinking of the ship near the disputed border between the two rival Koreas.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/South_Korean_Official_Says_Its_Obvious_North_Korea_Sank_Ship/2046441.html

 South Korea says North torpedoed its ship

Wed May 19, 2010 10:24pm EDT

By Jack Kim

SEOUL, May 20 (Reuters) - South Korea on Thursday accused the North of sinking a navy ship last March, saying the evidence was overwhelming and that it would take "firm" measures against its isolated neighbour.

The North called the report by international investigators a fabrication and warned that it was prepared to go to war if the South takes sanctions against it, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

A joint civilian and military investigation team, that included experts from the United States, Australia, Britain and Sweden, concluded that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo that sank the Cheonan corvette, killing 46 sailors.

A senior government official said previously that the attack appeared to have been in revenge for a firefight near their disputed border late last year in which the North’s navy was humiliated.

President Lee Myung-bak called an emergency meeting of his National Security Council for Friday. His government has already made clear it has no plans for a retaliatory strike of its own but will be pressing the international community to take action against the reclusive North.

"We will be taking firm, responsive measures against the North, and through international cooperation, we have to make the North admit its wrongdoing and come back as a responsible member of the international community," Lee was quoted by his office as telling Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Seoul financial markets showed muted reaction to the widely anticipated conclusion.

"The key is what kind of measures South Korea will take and how North Korea will react to them," said Choi Seong-lak, an analyst at SK Securities.

"If things become violent it will affect foreign investors, but for today the impact from the result itself will be limited."

Parts of the torpedo recovered from the scene, off the Korean peninsula’s west coast, were compatible with a North Korean-made weapon that South Korea secured seven years ago, the investigation report said.

The report, announced in national televised news conference, said intelligence had shown that North Korean submarines were likely in operation near the scene of the sinking, with similar vessels of other neighbouring countries all inside their territorial waters.

"Based on all such relevant facts and classified analysis, we have reached the clear conclusion that (South Korea’s) Cheonan was sunk as a result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea," the report said.

"The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine."

DEEPER INTO FREEZER

The issue has plunged already icy relations between the two Koreas deeper into the freezer.

North Korea has said the South’s conservative government was using the incident for political gain and to further undermine ties between the two Koreas, which have yet to sign a formal peace treaty to end their 1950-53 war.

The issue also puts China in a tricky spot. The host of on-again, off-again regional talks to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, is the reclusive state’s only major ally and is reluctant to penalise its government.

"It’s going to be very, very difficult for China to navigate this one. The South Koreans are not particularly pleased about what China’s doing," said Charles Freeman, China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Seoul is already irritated with Beijing for hosting North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on a rare trip abroad before the outcome of the investigation was announced.

There have been some media reports in the South that Chinese leaders may not have given the frail-looking Kim as much support as he wanted, speculating ties may now be starting to fray.

Many analysts believe China is desperate to prevent the collapse of the Kim family dynasty that has ruled the destitute North for more than 60 years for fear the ensuing chaos would spill across the border into China.

"Kim’s visit badly damaged Chinese ties with South Korea, but now China is more concerned about North Korea’s domestic stability than the nuclear issue," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

"I expect it will take a minimalist approach to the South Korean report."

(Additional reporting by Rhee So-eui, Miyoung Kim and Kim Yeon-hee in Seoul, Chris Buckley in Beijing and Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Alex Richardson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE64J00P

 South Korea Blames North Korea For Sinking Of Warship, Promises Retaliation

An official South Korean report has blamed North Korea for the March 26 sinking of the warship "Cheonan," which killed 46 sailors.

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 20.05.2010 09:44

Tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula following South Korea’s publication of an experts’ report blaming North Korea for torpedoing one of its warships.

Forty-six South Korean sailors died in the incident, which occurred at the disputed Yellow Sea border between the two states, along which naval forces confront one another.

The report says there is "overwhelming" evidence that the navy corvette "Cheonan" was sunk on March 26 by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine. It says there is no other plausible explanation, pointing out that fragments of the torpedo — displayed at a press conference today — show that it was manufactured in the communist North.

"The weapon system used is confirmed to be a high-explosive torpedo with a net explosive weight of about 250 kilograms, manufactured by North Korea," said the head of the multinational investigating team, Yoon Do-kyung.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has vowed that the South will take what he called "firm" measures against North Korea in response to the sinking.

Officials say the measures will not be military in nature. South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan indicated they will probably take the form of sanctions agreed by the international community.

"As such, North Korean military provocation not only destroys the peace and security of the international community but also acts against the armistice agreement and the UN charter," Yu said. "The government will take firm and strict measures with the international community."

’All-Out War’

Pyongyang has reacted fiercely to this prospect, saying it had nothing to do with the sinking and threatening to engage in "all-out war" if it is punished in any way.

South Korea’s major ally, the United States, says it backs Seoul’s accusation that North Korea is responsible, calling the sinking an "act of aggression" and "one more instance of North Korea’s unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law."

Britain says the warship’s sinking demonstrated a "total indifference to human life."

Australia called it a "hostile and unprovoked act."

Japan has also come out strongly for the South, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano calling the torpedoing "unforgivable."

"Japan firmly supports South Korea and condemns North Korea’s unforgivable provocation against the international community," he said.

China, Pyongyang’s only major ally, has refrained from supporting the North, calling on both sides to exercise restraint.

"What I want to point out is that the sinking of the ’Cheonan’ vessel is a very unfortunate incident," said Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai. "Dealing with this case properly and maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula are the common will among people in this region and also consistent with the interest of all sides."

The incident will be a central issue of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to Asia, which begins today and takes in Japan, China, and South Korea.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/South_Korea_Says_North_Torpedoed_Warship/2047360.html

 Clinton: North Korea Must ’Face Consequences’ For Sinking Ship

May 21, 2010

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says North Korea must face international consequences for sinking a South Korean warship.

Clinton was speaking in Tokyo, where she arrived today at the start of a trip that will also take her to China and South Korea.

Clinton is visiting the region one day after a multinational panel blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship with a torpedo in March. The incident claimed the lives of 46 people.

South Korea has threatened "countermeasures" after the report was issued, but the North said the report was "sheer fabrication" and threatened "all-out war" in response to any attempt to punish it.

Japan has called North Korea’s actions "unforgivable," but China has urged calm and said it would make its own assessment of the incident.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/Clinton_North_Korea_Must_Face_Consequences_For_Sinking_Ship/2048974.html

 Russia urges Seoul, Pyongyang to show restraint over ship sinking

20:04 20/05/2010

Russia called on Thursday for North and South Korea to exercise restraint in reacting to an investigation that concluded a South Korean warship was sunk by a North Korean submarine in March.

A team of international investigators confirmed on Thursday suspicions that the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette was sunk by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine. Forty-six sailors died on the night of March 26 when the ship went down near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea following a sudden explosion.

"We urge all parties concerned to exercise restraint and caution so that tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which increased recently, do not escalate into a conflict," the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman said.

Andrei Nesterenko added that Moscow was paying close attention to how the results of the investigation were being reported in Seoul, as well as to the statement made by the North Korean National Defense Committee, which strongly denied that the North Korean side is connected to the incident.

"Russian experts are scrupulously studying all the data they have on the issue," Nesterenko said.

"Once again I would like to express condolences to the people of the Republic of Korea over the tragic loss of a warship, and numerous human casualties," he said.

The conclusions of the investigation may lead to further deterioration of the already sour relations between the two Koreas and jeopardize international efforts to stop Pyongyang’s controversial nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.

North Korea has already called the results of the investigation "a fabrication" and warned Seoul of a harsh response if the South retaliates with new sanctions against Pyongyang over the alleged attack on its warship.

Naval clashes between the two states over the disputed sea border took place in 1999, 2002 and last year.

MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100520/159093806.html

 South Korea vows caution over ship, North sees war

Fri May 21, 2010 12:32pm EDT

By Jack Kim and Rhee So-eui

SEOUL, May 21 (Reuters) - South Korea said after a rare emergency security meeting on Friday it would respond prudently to the sinking of one of its naval ships by the North, but Pyongyang warned the peninsula was being driven to war.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly condemned North Korea’s action and called for an international response.

The South announced on Thursday that it had overwhelming evidence a North Korean submarine had entered its waters in March and attacked the Cheonan corvette, killing 46 sailors in what President Lee Myung-bak called a "military provocation".

North Korea denied the accusation and said it was ready to tear up all agreements with the South, with which it remains technically at war under a truce that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

"It was a military provocation and violation of the U.N. Charter and the truce agreement," Lee, whose two years in office have seen relations with the North turn increasingly frosty, said in a statement.

"Since this case is very serious and has a grave importance, we cannot afford to have a slightest mistake and will be very prudent in all response measures we take," his office quoted him as telling a rare emergency National Security Council meeting.

CLEAR MESSAGE, INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

Clinton, speaking in Tokyo, said there must be a message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences.

"We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community," Clinton said after meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

Clinton did not say what international action she wanted to see. Steps could range from fresh U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea, although those might be opposed by China, to a statement of condemnation by the world body.

South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said Seoul would work with the international community to come up with non-military sanctions against the reclusive state.

In the past, both sides had put a limit on their hostility.

"North Korea has surpassed these limits. For those acts, the government will definitely make sure North Korea pays," Kim said.

Yonhap news agency reported South Korea and the United States were considering raising the alert status on North Korea as tensions build.

A U.S. official with Clinton told reporters the United States had already increased the vigilance of its forces in the region.

"PHASE OF WAR"

North Korea was typically defiant.

"From this time on, we will regard the situation as a phase of war and will be responding resolutely to all problems in North-South relations," the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement.

"If the South puppet group comes out with ’response’ and ’retaliation’, we will respond strongly with ruthless punishment including the total shutdown of North-South ties, abrogation of the North-South agreement on non-aggression and abolition of all North-South cooperation projects."

Seoul has repeatedly said it would not strike back at the North, aware that would frighten away investors already jittery about the escalating tension on the divided peninsula.

Apart from international sanctions, there is little else it can do. Economic relations have come to a near standstill since Lee became president, apart from a joint factory park just inside impoverished North Korea which now has to rely almost entirely on China, its only major ally.

Yonhap News cited government sources saying Seoul may shut down sea routes that allow North Korean vessels sail through South Korean waters near its southern end and save costs.

North Korea has often threatened to attack Seoul but most analysts say that, in the face of a much better equipped South Korean army backed by some 28,000 U.S. troops on the peninsula, any major confrontation would be suicidal for Pyongyang.

Some analysts still warned the more the North’s eader Kim Jong-il is pushed into a corner, the greater the risk of clashes. Kim is also trying to secure the succession for one of his sons.

China has maintained its support of the North and said it would make its own assessment of the investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan.

U.S. officials said they were confident South Korea would seek measured actions and that they saw no signs that North Korea, known for bellicose rhetoric, was bracing for war.

"The South Koreans do not wish to go to war and they will not take steps that run that risk," said a second U.S. official traveling with Clinton, who will meet top Chinese officials in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, including President Hu Jintao.

U.S. officials made clear they would try to enlist China’s help in deterring North Korea.

"We’d like to see them acknowledge the reality of what happened and then join with South Korea, Japan and us in helping to fashion a response that helps to change the North Korean behaviour," said this official.

North Korea’s foreign ministry accused Washington of using the Cheonan sinking "to totally break off the Korean peninsula denuclearisation process" — a reference to long-stalled talks to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Thatcher in SEOUL; Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Arshad Mohammed in TOKYO and SHANGHAI; and Paul Eckert in WASHINGTON; Editing by Ron Popeski)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE64J0AJ

 North Korea accuses U.S. of derailing efforts to resume six-party talks

05:34 22/05/2010

North Korea accused the U.S. of trying to prevent the resumption of six-party talks on on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue after Washington condemned the North for sinking a South Korean warship, the Yonhap news agency has said.

"As the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) had already clarified, it has nothing to do with the case," a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying.

The 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sunk on the night of March 26 near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea after a sudden explosion that killed 46 sailors.

A team of international investigators confirmed on Thursday suspicions that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.

The White House described the act as a challenge to international peace and security and warned Pyongyang of consequences.

"The fabrication of the case and the ’results of the investigation into it’ are, in the final analysis, nothing but a farce orchestrated by the group of traitors with the approval of the U.S. and under its patronage," the spokesman said, adding "this indicates that the U.S. is invariably pursuing a hostile policy towards the DPRK to isolate and stifle it." Six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, involving Russia, Japan, China, the United States and the two Koreas, stalled last April when Pyongyang pulled out of the negotiations in protest against the United Nations’ condemnation of its missile tests.

Yonhap quoted an unidentified senior official in the U.S. State Department as saying the U.S. was negotiating with North Korea on resuming the six-party talks in March when the Cheonan incident took place.

"We were working towards that end until North Korean sank the Cheonan. North Korea has to understand, when unwarranted damages like this occur, it has consequences," the official said.

North Korea, which has been under international sanctions over its nuclear developments, has warned the South of stern response if the South retaliated with new sanctions against Pyongyang over the alleged attack on its warship.

The two countries remain technically at war as their 1950-1953 conflict ended only in an armistice. Naval clashes between the South and the North over the disputed sea border took place in 1999, 2002 and last year.

The international community has called for Seoul and Pyongyang to show restraint and avoid escalating tensions caused by the incident in the Yellow Sea.

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100522/159110843.html

 South Korea says to take ship case to Security Council

Sun May 23, 2010 4:00am EDT

SEOUL, May 23 (Reuters) - South Korea will take the case of its sunken naval vessel to the U.N. Security Council, the presidential office said on Sunday, as pressure mounted on North Korea which is accused of torpedoing the ship.

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak will deliver a speech about the incident on Monday, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said. "The president will present frameworks of measures, one about our own steps and the other about measures through international cooperation ... He will also mention a plan to bring the case to the U.N. Security Council," said Lee.

Last week, Seoul released the findings of a report which concluded that a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan corvette, killing 46 sailors. The North has denied the accusation.

(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE64M00V20100523

 Clinton Heads To China For Talks

May 23, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to Beijing for economic and strategic talks with Chinese leaders that will be dominated by efforts to win China’s support to punish North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

Clinton, who will co-chair the talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said that she would also be pushing the Chinese for a "more balanced economic relationship" with the United States.

On May 22 in Shanghai, Clinton stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries in solving world crises.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/Clinton_Heads_To_China_For_Talks/2050320.html

 Seoul To Appeal To UN Over Sunken Ship

May 23, 2010

South Korea says it will take the case of its sunken naval vessel to the UN Security Council.

The presidential office said on May 23 that President Lee Myung-bak will make this clear in a speech about the incident with North Korea on May 24.

Last week, Seoul released the findings of a report which concluded that a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo that sank the corvette "Cheonan," killing 46 sailors.

The North has denied the accusation. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to raise the ship case in her coming talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing.

Reuters

http://www.rferl.org/content/South_Korea_To_Appeal_To_UN_Over_Sunken_Ship/2050569.html

 North Korea puts military on alert - Yonhap

Mon May 24, 2010 10:57pm EDT

By Jonathan Thatcher

SEOUL, May 25 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has reportedly ordered his military to be on combat alert as tensions rise sharply on the peninsula after the South accused its neighbour of sinking a warship.

The report by the South’s Yonhap news agency immediately hit already nervous Seoul financial markets, with the main share index dropping more than three percent.

Yonhap quoted a local group of North Korea watchers as saying their sources there had told them Kim’s command had been broadcast by a top military official.

There was no reference to the order on North Korean media seen outside the reclusive state nor any immediate comment from South Korean officials.

Seoul on Monday announced it would ban all trade with the North and stop its commercial ships using South Korean waters, moves likely to further squeeze the already ruined North Korean economy. Both sides have stepped up their angry rhetoric after international investigators late last week blamed the North for torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The United States, which has 28,000 troops on the peninsula, threw its full support behind South Korea and said it was working hard to stop the escalation fury getting out of hand.

On the other side of the Cold War border, the North keeps about one million soldiers, one of the world’s largest standing armies,.

But they are poorly equipped and analysts say the North is unlikely to risk full scale combat against much better armed U.S. and South Korean troops.

South Korea is just as reluctant to go to war, aware it would send investors fleeing from Asia’s fourth largest economy.

Analysts say the main risk is that small skirmishes along the heavily armed border could turn into broader conflict.

The South’s financial markets are already jittery over the increasing angry war of words between the two Koreas, which still have not signed a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

"The Yonhap report, while still to be officially confirmed, chilled investor sentiment as it highlighted South Korea’s geopolitical risks. And timing for such news could not be worse, as market sentiment was already shaky with renewed euro zone financial fears," said Hwang Keum-dan, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.

"The stock market will have a hard time recovering until these two big uncertainties are somewhat resolved," she said.

South Korea’s won also extended losses, falling 4.5 percent to a 10-month low against the dollar, driven down by the combined euro zone and North Korea concerns.

The authorities were seen intervening to prevent too fast a drop.

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday he would take the issue to the U.N. Security Council, whose past sanctions are already sapping what little energy North Korea’s communist economy has left. [ID:nN24670710])

In what several diplomats in New York said was an unusual intervention in Security Council matters, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed confidence the Council would take "appropriate" measures.

The United States, which backs Seoul, said the situation was "highly precarious" and it would take part in a joint naval exercise with the South.

China, the North’s only major ally, urged calm.

The Pentagon announced plans for a joint U.S.-South Korean anti-submarine drill "in the near future" and said talks were underway on joint maritime interdiction exercises.

Seoul believes a North Korean submarine infiltrated its waters and fired on the Cheonan. (Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park and Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jerry Norton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSEW002195

 Obama tells military: prepare for N.Korea aggression

Mon May 24, 2010 2:02am EDT

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday.

The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said.

"We endorse President Lee’s demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior," Gibbs said.

"U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression," he said.

Obama and Lee have agreed to meet at the G20 summit in Canada next month, he said.

Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee said on Monday South Korea would bring the issue before the U.N., whose past sanctions have damaged the already ruined North Korean economy.

The United States still has about 28,000 troops in South Korea to provide military support.

The two Koreas, still technically at war, have more than 1 million troops near their border.

"We will build on an already strong foundation of excellent cooperation between our militaries and explore further enhancements to our joint posture on the Peninsula as part of our ongoing dialogue," Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the United States supported Lee’s plans to bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council and would work with allies to "reduce the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability."

Obama had also directed U.S. agencies to evaluate existing policies towards North Korea.

"This review is aimed at ensuring that we have adequate measures in place and to identify areas where adjustments would be appropriate," he said.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN24206347

 South Korea Restarts Propaganda Broadcasts To North

South Korean soldiers stand by loudspeakers at a guard post near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Yanggu on May 24.

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 25.05.2010 11:03

South Korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts to the North, amid high tension over the sinking of a Southern warship.

An international panel says a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sent the ship down in March, killing 46 sailors, but Pyongyang denies this.

Seoul, which has already suspended trade ties with Pyongyang over the sinking, began playing radio programs broadcast via border loudspeakers.

South Korea says it will also drop propaganda leaflets into the North to tell people about the incident and set up giant electronic billboards to flash messages.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is reported to have ordered his military to be on a combat footing, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The North’s military also claims South Korean Navy ships repeatedly violated the countries’ disputed western sea border this month and threatened to take "practical" military measures in response.

The United States backed South Korea, confirming that it will hold joint naval exercises with the country. China and Russia today called for restraint.

Seoul plans to refer North Korea to the UN Security Council.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expects the Security Council to take action against North Korea, calling the evidence that the North was responsible "overwhelming and deeply troubling."

The Obama administration endorsed Lee’s demand that "North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack."

In Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on China to also put pressure on North Korea over the sinking of the ship.

"North Korea is also a matter of urgent concern. Last year, we worked together to pass and enforce a strong UN Security Council resolution in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test," she said. "And today, we face another serious challenge provoked by the sinking of the South Korean ship.

"So we must work together again to address this challenge and advance our shared objectives for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula."

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/North_Korea_Puts_Military_On_Combat_Readiness/2051837.html

 UN chief urges Security Council to take action against N. Korea

20:45 24/05/2010

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope on Monday that the Security Council would take prompt actions against Pyongyang in the wake of a probe that found North Korea had sunk a South Korean warship.

"I am confident that the council, in fulfilling its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, will take measures appropriate to the gravity of the situation," Ban said at a news conference in New York.

Forty-six sailors died when the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sank on the night of March 26 near the disputed Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea after a sudden explosion. A team of international investigators confirmed last Thursday suspicions that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Sunday his country would take the case of its sunken naval ship to the UN Security Council. North Korea has reacted angrily to the accusations, saying it would withdraw from the nonaggression pact with South Korea if Seoul continued to accuse Pyongyang of sinking one of its warships.

The two countries remain technically at war as their 1950-1953 conflict ended only in an armistice. Naval clashes between the South and the North over the disputed sea border took place in 1999, 2002 and last year.

The conclusions of the investigation led to a further deterioration of the already sour relations between the two Koreas and have jeopardized international efforts to stop Pyongyang’s controversial nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said on Monday that the council’s prompt action would also contribute to the early resumption of the six-party talks "to address [Pyongyang’s] nuclear issues and other outstanding concerns."

Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, involving Russia, Japan, China, the United States and the two Koreas, stalled in April last year when Pyongyang pulled out of the negotiations in protest at the United Nations’ condemnation of its missile tests.

Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, called last week for North and South Korea to exercise restraint in reacting to the results of the investigation.

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100524/159138847.html

 South Korea begins mass torpedo production - paper

16:40 24/05/2010

South Korea has begun mass production of Red Shark torpedoes, designed for destroying hostile submarines, a Russian business daily quoted the South Korean Navy as saying on Monday.

"New underwater missiles are one of the main kinds of weaponry, that can bring us victory in the anti-submarine battles of the future," Kommersant quoted a South Korean Navy statement as saying. The statement said the 20-km range torpedoes will be launched vertically from South Korean destroyers.

Earlier on Monday South Korean President Lee Myung-bak froze economic relations and maritime communications with the North following evidence showing North Korea to be responsible for the sinking of the South Korean Cheonan corvette on March 26 near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea.

The 1,200-ton vessel sank after a sudden explosion that killed 46 sailors. A group of international investigators confirmed on Thursday suspicions that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.

North Korea called the results of the investigation "a fabrication," and warned Seoul of a stern response if the South retaliated with new sanctions against Pyongyang.

The state claimed the right to strengthen its "nuclear power". Kommersant quoted a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman as saying that North Korea "manufactured nuclear weapons legitimately" in order to protect the sovereignty of the country and the security of the nation.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the United States would support South Korea on the issue and was ready to help the state deter future aggression.

"U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression".

"We endorse President Lee’s demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior."

Kommersant cited U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton as saying the U.S. is "working hard to avoid an escalation of belligerence and provocation" on the Korean Peninsula.

The two countries remain technically at war as their 1950-1953 conflict ended only in an armistice.

MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100524/159135819.html

 North Korea threatens fight with South

Jonathan Thatcher

Tue May 25, 2010 3:22pm EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it was cutting all ties with the South and threatened its wealthy neighbor with military action over alleged violations of its waters off the west coast.

The comments marked a new high in tensions on the divided peninsula after the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on a torpedo fired by the communist North.

The increasingly war-like rhetoric hit Seoul’s financial markets, prompting policymakers to call an emergency meeting on Wednesday to look for ways to calm investors.

"The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea formally declares that from now on it will put into force the resolute measures to totally freeze the inter-Korean relations, totally abrogate the agreement on non-aggression between the north and the south and completely halt the inter-Korean cooperation," the North’s KCNA news agency reported. North Korea will also expel personnel from the Kaesong industrial park, a joint North-South venture just inside its border. It was not immediately clear what impact that would have on factories there.

The industrial estate, in which South Korean firms employ cheap North Korean labor, is an important source of revenue for the Pyongyang leadership.

North Korea earlier said if the South continued to cross into its side of the disputed sea border — the scene of deadly clashes in the past — the North would "put into force practical military measures to defend its waters."

The North referred to the South’s government as "military gangsters, seized by fever for a war".

A report by international investigators last week accused the communist North, already under international pressure over its nuclear program, of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors.

On Monday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak cut trade with his impoverished neighbor and blocked its commercial ships from sailing through the South’s waters.

He also plans to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in China on Tuesday that Washington and Beijing would work together to come up with an "effective, appropriate" response to the sinking, which Washington condemned.

Clinton said both sides should examine the issue over time, suggesting quick Security Council action was unlikely.

"(China) shares with us the goal of a denuclearised Korean Peninsula and a period of careful consideration in order to determine the best way forward in dealing with North Korea."

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called Pyongyang’s approach "odd." "I can’t imagine a step that is less in the long term interest of the North Korean people than cutting off further ties with South Korea," he said.

RUSSIA SEEKS RESTRAINT

Russia, which like China and the United States holds a veto in the Security Council, urged restraint.

China, the North’s only major ally and which effectively bankrolls its economy, has studiously tried to keep out of the fray, urging calm and refusing to voice support for the international report on the Cheonan sinking.

It means that South Korea has almost no chance of winning further U.N. sanctions against its neighbor.

The issue is certain to dominate talks in Seoul on Wednesday with Clinton, who was arriving after talks in Beijing.

Most analysts doubt either side would risk a war, which would be suicidal for the North and economy-ruining for the South.

Seoul’s key economic and financial authorities will meet early on Wednesday to discuss ways to stabilize local financial markets.

Some in the market saw the selling — which took stocks on the main index to their lowest close in 15 weeks — as overdone and triggered mostly by foreign selling.

"North Korea and related risks have always been there. It is like telling investors to quit the Japanese market because it has earthquakes. War is wanted neither by the North nor the South," one fund manager at a foreign investment management house said.

FURIOUS RHETORIC

Both sides have stepped up their rhetoric over the Cheonan incident, one of their deadliest since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North accused South Korea’s government of fabricating the issue, partly to help the ruling party in next week’s local elections — important to cement President Lee’s power in the second half of his single five-year term.

The incident appears to have done nothing to dent Lee’s popularity, which one recent opinion poll shows running at well over 40 percent, unusually high for recent South Korean presidents halfway through their term.

A strong showing for Lee’s party in the June 2 local election, which many expect, will give him greater authority to push aside a fragmented opposition in parliament and continue with sweeping pro-business reforms.

His rule has also seen relations with the North turn increasingly chilly as he turned his back on a decade of generous aid to the North by his predecessors which had failed to end its attempts to build nuclear weapons.

Some worry pushing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il too far may leave him little choice but to fight back to try to save his family’s more than 60-year hold over the destitute country as he tries to secure the succession for his youngest son.

Analysts say the main risk is that small skirmishes along the heavily armed border could turn into broader conflict.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim, Jungyoun Park, Yoo Choonsik, Kim Yeon-hee and Jack Kim in SEOUL, Linda Sieg in TOKYO and Chris Buckley and Doug Palmer in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait and David Storey)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N0F520100525

 North Korea Severs Ties With South Amid Escalating Row

May 25, 2010

North Korea has said it will sever all ties and communication with Seoul as punishment for blaming the North for the sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the North will also expel all South Koreans working at a joint industrial park in the border town of Kaesong.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said North Korea’s decision to sever ties with the South was an "odd" reaction that works against Pyongyong’s self-interest.

Earlier, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts to the North, amid high tension over the sinking of its warship.

An international panel says a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sent the ship down in March, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang denies this.

The North’s military says South Korean navy ships repeatedly violated the countries’ disputed western sea border this month, and has threatened to take "practical" military measures in response.

Seoul plans to report North Korea to the UN Security Council.

The United States has backed South Korea in the dispute, confirming that it will hold joint naval exercises with the country. China and Russia today called for restraint.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/North_Korea_Severs_Ties_With_South_Amid_Escalating_Row/2052676.html

 U.S., S. Korea to hold navy drills following Yellow Sea incident

23:41 24/05/2010

The United States and South Korea will hold joint military drills to practice the interception of submarines "in the near future," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Monday.

Tensions between the two Koreas, which are technically at war as the 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice, have risen following the March 26 incident in the Yellow Sea, when South Korea’s 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sank near the disputed Northern Limit Line after a sudden explosion.

South Korea has accused the North of sinking the ship, which resulted in the deaths of 46 sailors. An international investigation concluded last week that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.

Whitman told reporters in Washington the planned military exercises "are a result of the findings of this recent incident."

The international community has condemned Pyongyang for attacking the South Korean warship. The North has denied the allegations.

The United States has said Pyongyang should face consequences and expressed its "unequivocal" support to South Korea.

U.S. President Barack Obama has directed his military commanders to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and "deter future aggression."

North Korea has called the results of the investigation into the Yellow Sea accident "a fabrication," and warned Seoul of a stern response if the South retaliated with new sanctions against Pyongyang.

Whitman said there would be no changes in a U.S. plan stipulating the transmission of military command to South Korea in 2012.

The United States has 28,000 troops on the peninsula to provide military support. In line with an agreement reached after the end of the 1950s inter-Korean war, South Korean soldiers should follow U.S. military orders in case of war on the Korean Peninsula.

WASHINGTON, May 24 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100524/159140972.html

 Medvedev calls on Seoul not to allow escalation on Korean Peninsula

16:00 25/05/2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Tuesday on his South Korean counterpart to show restraint and not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to escalate, the Kremlin press service said.

Medvedev spoke with President Lee Myung-bak by telephone about the heightened tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang over the sinking of a South Korean warship in the Yellow Sea on March 26.

An international investigation found that a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo at the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette. The vessel sank near the disputed Northern Limit Line causing the loss of 46 lives.

"Both leaders have expressed regret that a number of important inter-Korean projects in the trade and economic spheres, which were drawn up with Russian help several years ago, have not been implemented, and that the general situation has deteriorated to the level of confrontation," the statement said.

The two presidents confirmed that they were ready to continue consultations on all matters relating to the Korean Peninsula.

MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100525/159149976.html

 Clinton On Solidarity Trip To South Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Seoul following a visit to China, where she pressed Chinese leaders to take a firmer line with Beijing’s ally North Korea after the sinking of a South Korean warship. Last updated (GMT/UTC): 26.05.2010 05:18

SEOUL — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in South Korea for a one-day visit aimed at underlining U.S. solidarity with the South amid its confrontation with rival North Korea.

Clinton, who was expected to hold talks with South Korea’s top leadership, arrived in Seoul following a visit to China, where she pressed Chinese leaders to take a firmer line with Beijing’s ally North Korea after the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The communist-led North has threatened to cut all ties with South Korea after a team of international investigators last week concluded that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for the sinking of the South Korean warship "Cheonan" on March 26.

The sinking killed 46 South Korean soldiers.

North Korea has repeatedly denied any involvement in the sinking of the ship, and warned that any retaliation or punishment of the North could lead to war.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/Clinton_On_Solidarity_Trip_To_South_Korea/2052857.html

 Clinton Warns North Korea Over South Ship’s Sinking

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greet each other at their meeting in Seoul on May 26. Last updated (GMT/UTC): 26.05.2010 12:56

The United States has warned North Korea to halt what it called provocations and threats, and urged the world to respond to the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The warning was delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Seoul, which she is visiting to underline U.S. solidarity with the South amid its confrontation with rival North Korea.

Clinton says the United States stands "rock solid" behind South Korea in the escalating row over the sinking, which was carried out by communist North Korea according to independent investigators.

"The fortunes of our two nations have been bound together for many decades," Clinton told a Seoul press conference today with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. "We have stood watchful guard together for 60 years, vigilant in the cause of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the wider region. And for the United States, the security and sovereignty of South Korea is a solemn responsibility and a rock-solid commitment."

Clinton said the evidence is "overwhelming" that a South Korean naval corvette was sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine on March 26, with the loss of 46 lives. She said the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond to this "unacceptable provocation."

North Korea denies sinking the "Cheonan" and says it is breaking all ties with the South in protest.

’Confrontation Maniacs’

A North Korean news presenter announced the on television that "the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea formally declares that from now on, it will put into force the resolute measures to totally freeze inter-Korean relations, totally abrogate the agreement on nonaggression between the north and the south, and completely halt inter-Korean cooperation."

At the same time, Pyongyang issued an intemperate statement calling President Lee Myung-bak and his government "confrontation maniacs," "sycophants," and "wicked warmongers."

Clinton arrived in Seoul from China, where she tried to persuade the Beijing leadership to take a stronger line against the North, its close ally.

So far, Beijing has limited itself to mild comments, saying it does not have full information on the "Cheonan" incident and that dialogue is better than confrontation.

Still, Clinton indicated her belief that China will be cooperative in the UN Security Council, to which the South says it will take its case.

"I believe that the Chinese understand the seriousness of this issue and are willing to listen to the concerns expressed by both South Korea and the United States," she said. "We expect to be working with China as we move forward in fashioning a response to this provocation by North Korea."

British-based Korea expert Aidan Foster-Carter tells RFE/RL that — barring military action — there are only limited ways open to the international community to punish North Korea for sinking the warship.

"The main option is yet again wearily to take North Korea to the UN Security Council, as the South has already said it will do," Foster-Carter says. "There will be a resolution. I expect China will not oppose it, though I’m not sure they’ll support it. But North Korea has been the subject of three such resolutions since 2006 and a chairman’s statement."

Foster-Carter says one other thing the United States could do would be to restore the North to the State Department’s list of states sponsoring terrorism. North Korea was on that list until removed by the administration of President George W. Bush. But he says that would be a gesture of mainly symbolic value.

Despite Pyongyang saying it is making a complete break with the South, at last reports it had not acted to shut down the Kaesong industrial park, where 120 small and medium size South Korean companies employ 40,000 North Korean workers.

The joint park is a major source of income for the cash-strapped North, and analysts say that as long as it remains open, there is an element of bluff to the North’s threats.

However, Pyongyang now says it will block the road to Kaesong if the South goes ahead with its plan to resume broadcasting propaganda through megaphones along the border.

written by Breffni O’Rourke based on agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content /Clinton_World_Must_Act_On_South_Korean_Ship_Sinking/2053020.html

 North Korea vows to rip up military safeguards with South

Jack Kim

Thu May 27, 2010 4:59am EDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it was ripping up military agreements signed with the South in a step seen as a prelude to shutting down a joint factory park, just as Seoul staged anti-submarine drills in tense border waters.

Signs also emerged that China, the North’s main benefactor and ally, is reviewing ties with the isolated state, a week after international investigators accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a South Korean warship in March. The sinking killed 46 sailors and sharply raised tensions in economically significant East Asia.

In the latest chapter of blistering rhetoric, North Korea accused the South of driving 10 years of developing ties into the ground and said it would scrap pacts between the two sides’ militaries guaranteeing the safety of cross-border exchanges.

The move could push the North a step closer to severing a border link which provides access to a joint industrial complex in the North Korean city of Kaesong.

"We will completely repeal the military guarantee measures that our army is to enforce related to North-South cooperation exchange," the North’s army chief of staff said in a notice carried by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency.

It could also mean the beginning of the end for the Kaesong industrial project, where more than 100 South Korean firms use cheap local labor and rent to make consumer goods and has been one of a few legitimate sources of income for the North, worth tens of millions of dollars a year. Mounting antagonism between the two Koreas has unnerved investors, worried the bitter rivalry could spill over into conflict.

The KCNA statement also said the North was cancelling agreements aimed at preventing confrontations in the waters off the peninsula’s west coast and cutting off naval hotlines.

The North this week threatened to shut the last road link with the South if Seoul resumes loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across their heavily armed border. It has warned of war if the South goes ahead with sanctions announced this week.

INTRUSIONS

The South Korean naval exercise is aimed at better detecting intrusions by North Korean submarines after the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan.

The drills, which also come after the South’s military upgraded its alert level, are likely to further anger Pyongyang, which has already cut most ties with Seoul after it sanctioned the hermit state over the Cheonan’s sinking.

Most analysts say that neither side is ready to go to war but warn there could be more skirmishes, especially along their disputed sea border off the west coast.

Traders said the issue continues to hang over the market, although it is no longer driving prices down as it did early in the week. The won ended a five-day losing streak as investors turned to the country’s financial markets on the view that recent declines may have been excessive.

Washington is looking for ways to avoid the issue collapsing into conflict, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressing Beijing to coax its North Korean ally into changing course.

CHINA’S ROLE

Clinton, visiting Seoul on Wednesday, called on China to join efforts to pressure the North to change its ways. China almost single-handedly props up the North Korean government and its destitute economy. U.S. officials traveling with Clinton said China has shown indications that it was rethinking its ties with Pyongyang.

South Korea will ask the U.N. Security Council as early as next week to take up the issue, its Yonhap news agency said.

South Korean officials anticipate some form of progress in China’s response when Premier Wen Jiabao visits Seoul on Friday for a summit with President Lee Myung-bak.

The two will travel to the South Korean resort island of Jeju on Saturday for a regional summit that also involves Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, where the issue is likely to overshadow discussions on boosting trade.

North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly is scheduled to meet on June 7, two months after the rubberstamp parliament passed constitutional amendments that strengthened leader Kim Jong-il’s powers. Experts say a major announcement is likely.

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Paul Tait)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N0F520100527

 North Korea To Scrap Military Safeguard Pact With South

A South Korean patrol boat dropping a depth charge during a drill off the western coastal town of Taean on May 27.

May 27, 2010

Amid rising tension on the peninsula, North Korea says it will "completely nullify" an inter-Korean accord aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes along the disputed western sea border.

Fears of conflict have risen dramatically since a team of international investigators said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang has denied its involvement in the sinking.

In a statement carried today by the official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s military said "immediate physical strikes will be launched" against any South Korean ships that intrude into North Korean waters.

The announcement came hours after a fleet of South Korean warships staged a large-scale anti-submarine drill off the west coast despite North Korea’s warnings that such drills will drive the peninsula to the brink of war.

compiled from agency reports

http://www.rferl.org/content/NKorea_To_Scrap_Military_Safeguard_Pact_With_SKorea/2054095.html