skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Japan said Friday it is slapping new sanctions on North Korea by clamping down on money transfers, while the leaders of Japan and the U.S. pledged cooperation in taking the North before the U.N. Security Council over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
International pressure is mounting on North Korea over the sinking, which a multinational team of investigators blamed last week on a North Korean-made torpedo. Forty-six South Korean sailors died in the March 26 disaster, the worst military attack on the South since the Korean War.
North Korea has denied responsibility and has warned that any retaliation or punishment would mean war.
Any Security Council action would need the backing of key permanent member China. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was to lay out the case against North Korea in talks Friday with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, a South Korean government official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry policy.
Wen arrived in Seoul a day before a summit with the leaders of South Korea and Japan on the South Korean island of Jeju.
China, North Korea's main ally, has refrained from committing to Security Council action.
Senior U.S. officials said Wednesday that China had indicated it was prepared to hold the North accountable for the torpedo attack and could join in some kind of formal Security Council rebuke.
However, asked about Beijing's stance Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu simply called the issue "highly complicated" and said China's position remained unchanged.
"China does not have firsthand information. We are looking at the information from all sides in a prudent manner," Ma told a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing.
Tensions have been rising daily on the Korean peninsula since the May 20 release of the investigation report.
South Korea slashed trade, resumed anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts across the border and on Thursday launched large-scale naval exercises off the coast, with U.S.-South Korean drills to follow in the coming months.
North Korea threatened Thursday to attack any South Korean ships entering its waters and scrapped an accord meant to prevent naval clashes. Still, North Korea allowed South Korean workers to cross the border Friday for jobs at a joint industrial facility in the North.
Japan, which already bans trade with the North, said Friday it will reduce the amount of money that can be sent to North Korea without being reported to the Japanese government. Tokyo also said it will slash the amount of cash travelers can take into North Korea — an apparent bid to target funds funneled to the North by ethnic Koreans in Japan.
Calling the sinking of the ship "unforgivable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano suggested in Tokyo that the government is considering additional sanctions.
Separately, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and President Barack Obama jointly condemned the attack in a phone call and vowed to cooperate with South Korea on taking North Korea to the Security Council, the White House said.
"The president and the prime minister called on North Korea to end its provocative behavior toward its neighbors and to abide by its commitment to eliminate its nuclear-weapons program and to fulfill its other international obligations," the White House said in a statement.
North Korea has said it will rip up a military pact aimed at preventing naval clashes with the South amid mounting tensions in the region. The latest tit for tat measure came as South Korean warships carried out anti-submarine drills, to better detect intrusions.
Seoul blames Pyongyang for the torpedoing that sank one of its vessels and killed 46 sailors in March. Despite an international probe saying otherwise, the North vehemently denies the allegation.
Kim Jung il’s regime has warned of war if Seoul presses ahead with sanctions but for the moment South Koreans are still crossing the border at a joint factory complex in the North.
With relations sinking to the worst level in more than a decade a massive rally was also held in Seoul to denounce Pyongyang’s recent threats.
Most experts say neither side is ready to go to war but warn there could be more skirmishes, especially along their disputed sea border. There are also fears the conflict could be accidentally escalated.
The United States will Thursday offer Iran and North Korea a "clear choice" in its new national security strategy, accept U.S. offers of engagement, or face deep isolation over their nuclear programs.
"Both nations face a clear choice," the document says, calling on North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons and for Tehran to meet its international obligations on its atomic program.
"If they ignore their international obligations, we will pursue multiple means to increase their isolation and bring them into compliance with international nonproliferation norms."
The South Korean navy is conducting a major anti-submarine drill, amid renewed tensions with North Korea over the sinking of a southern navy ship in March.
The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, says 10 warships are taking part in the drill. Anti-submarine depth charges and naval guns are being tested.
An international investigation last week found that the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, was sunk by a torpedo from the North, but this has been denied by Pyongyang.
South Korea's one-day submarine exercise, taking place off the west coast town of Taean, follows the sighting of South Korean K1 tanks on Tuesday conducting an exercise to prepare for a possible surprise attack by North Korea.
The BBC's John Sudworth, in Seoul, says it is one of the first visible signs of a raising of South Korea's defence posture in response to the incident.
The surveillance of the North, using satellites and spy planes, is also reported to have been stepped up and more naval drills are planned, some involving US forces, says our correspondent.
South Korea's close ally, the United States, has said it intends to hold large-scale military exercises between its troops stationed in South Korea, and the South Korean armed forces. It has not yet announced a date.
Analysts have said none of the states involved wants to escalate military tensions, but South Korea and its allies want to find a way to restrain the North and prevent it from conducting further attacks.
North Korea denies any involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan. Response
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has just visited the region, said the international community must respond in the growing crisis over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
She said there was "overwhelming" evidence that North Korea was to blame, and urged Pyongyang to halt its "policy of belligerence".
SINKING OF CHEONAN - KEY DATES Continue reading the main story
March 26: Explosion hits naval corvette near disputed maritime border, killing 46 on board
May 20: Independent investigators produce proof North Korean torpedo struck vessel
May 24: South Korea declares trade with North frozen, demands apology
May 25: North Korea announces it is severing all ties with South Korean propaganda fight How South Korean ship was sunk Q&A: Cheonan sinking Timeline: North Korean attacks
"This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond," Mrs Clinton said.
She also urged China, a close friend of North Korea, to stand firmly with the international community on the issue.
"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," Mrs Clinton said on Wednesday.
"We expect to be working with China as we move forward in fashioning a response."
Officials travelling with Mrs Clinton, on her visits to Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul, say they believe that China appears to be moving closer to South Korea's position.
Analysts have predicted China will refrain from publicly chastising the North but could seek a discreet way to communicate widespread concerns to the North.
China's new ambassador to Britain has said his country's top priority at present is to avoid a violent conflict between North and South Korea, and guarantee stability in the region.
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun earlier said his country was still evaluating information on the sinking of the Cheonan.
South Korea has meanwhile announced a package of measures, including a halt to most trade. It is also seeking action via the United Nations Security Council.
North Korea announced late on Tuesday that it was cutting all ties with the South. It has also banned South Korean ships and planes from its territory.
It has said it will close the last road link between North and South if South Korean loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda across the border resume.
With tensions rising rapidly, the North has reacted angrily to trade and shipping sanctions announced by the South.
The two states are technically still at war after the Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty in 1953.
An international team of investigators says that a North Korean submarine sank the 1,200-tonne Cheonan. Photograph: Hong Jin-Hwan/AFP/Getty
South Korea will take Pyongyang to the UN security council as part of measures it will pursue over the sinking of a warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack, officials said today.
An international team of investigators announced last week that a North Korean submarine had fired a homing torpedo on 26 March, tearing apart the 1,200-tonne Cheonan and killing 46 sailors on board. North Korea called the investigation results a fabrication and warned that any retaliation would trigger war.
South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, is to address the nation tomorrow on the "clear armed provocation" by North Korea and disclose his resolve to take "stern" action against the regime, according to his press adviser, Lee Dong-kwan.
The president will announce what measures South Korea plans to take against North Korea on its own and in co-operation with the international community, the adviser said.
The president "will also speak about referring [North Korea] to the UN security council", he said.
It is unclear what measures Seoul would solicit from the security council. In general, punitive measures against a country involved in provocative acts include economic sanctions and adopting a statement condemning its acts, a presidential official said on condition of anonymity.
The president will also announce that South Korea will take all available "strong counter-measures" if North Korea engages in further provocations, the adviser said.
Those measures may include large anti-submarine drills with the US near the site of the sinking, resuming propaganda broadcasts near the land border, drastically scaling back the remaining economic exchange programmes with the North, and barring North Korean vessels from its waters.
Any such action is certain to draw an angry response from the North, which has stepped up its war rhetoric in recent days over the sinking.
"The army and people of [North Korea] will never pardon the group of traitors getting hell-bent on confrontation and war [and who] dare taking issue with fellow countrymen," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary today, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
It threatened to "crush" South Korea, calling its report on the Cheonan sinking an "enormous fabrication".
The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The tension comes amid a visit to the region by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state. Clinton is in China where she faces a diplomatic struggle to win Beijing's support for penalising its ally for the sinking.
In Tokyo on Friday, Clinton said the evidence was "overwhelming" that North Korea was behind the sinking, and that the reclusive communist country must face international consequences.
She is expected in Seoul on Wednesday.
Japan said Friday it is slapping new sanctions on North Korea by clamping down on money transfers, while the leaders of Japan and the U.S. pledged cooperation in taking the North before the U.N. Security Council over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
