'Prudent' response to torpedo attack by South Korea

Published on Saturday 22 May 2010 02:56

SOUTH Korea has resolved to respond "prudently" to the sinking of one of its naval ships by the North, but the Pyongyang government has warned the peninsula is being driven to war.

The South announced on Thursday it had overwhelming evidence a North Korean submarine had entered its waters in March and torpedoed the Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday strongly condemned North Korea's action and called for an international response.

North Korea, however, denies the South's accusation and has threatened to tear up all agreements with the South, with which it remains technically at war under a truce that ended fighting in the 1950-3 Korean War.

President Lee Myung-bak told an emergency meeting of the Seoul government's National Security Council that the North's attack on the Cheonan was "a military provocation and violation of the UN Charter and the truce agreement".

He went on: "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."

Mr Lee is expected to announce his government's response early next week.

Mrs Clinton, speaking during a visit to Tokyo, said there had to be a message to North Korea that provocative actions had consequences. "We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community," she said.

Action could range from fresh UN 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, he said, adding: "North Korea has surpassed these limits. For those acts, the government will definitely make sure North Korea pays."

Pyongyang, meanwhile, remained typically defiant.

"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 co-operation projects, " its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said.

Seoul has repeatedly said it would not strike back militarily at the North, so, apart from international sanctions, there is little it can do. Economic relations have come to a near standstill since Mr Lee became president, apart from a joint factory park just inside impoverished North Korea, which now relies almost entirely on China, its only major ally.

Government sources suggested Seoul might stop allowing North Korean vessels to sail through the South's waters to save costs.