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N. Korea Threatens Military Action in Disputed Waters

   VOA News 25 May 2010
   South  Korean  activists  burn  a  North Korean flag with a picture of
   North  Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a rally against the North near
   the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 25 May 2010

Photo: AP

   South  Korean  activists  burn  a  North Korean flag with a picture of
   North  Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a rally against the North near
   the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 25 May 2010

   North  Korea threatened Tuesday to take military action if South Korea
   trespasses in its waters off the peninsula's west coast.
   The  two  countries  have  been  in  a tense standoff about a disputed
   maritime  border  in  the  Yellow  sea that was the scene of a torpedo
   attack  that  sank  a  South  Korean  warship  in March.  A  team of
   international  investigators  concluded  last week that a North Korean
   submarine fired the torpedo.   Pyongyang denies the charge.
   South  Korea  is  preparing to resume propaganda broadcasts into North
   Korea  despite  the North's threat to fire on and destroy loudspeakers
   if the South starts broadcasting anti-communist propaganda.
   The  broadcasts  are  part of a series of sanctions announced by South
   Korean  President  Lee  Myung-bak Monday in response to the sinking of
   the  South  Korea  warship.   Other  measures  include  severing  all
   inter-Korean  trade  and closing the South's sea lanes to North Korean
   ships.
   The  South  Korean  president  also said he will ask the U.N. Security
   Council to impose new sanctions on North Korea. Â
   United  Nations  Secretary-General  Ban  Ki-moon  said Monday there is
   "overwhelming"  evidence  that  a  North Korean torpedo sank the South
   Korean warship, killing 46 South Korean sailors.
   The  South  Korean-born  U.N. chief told reporters in New York that he
   fully  shares the widespread condemnation of the incident.  He called
   on  the U.N. Security Council to take "appropriate" measures after one
   of South Korea's worst military disasters since the Korean War.
   U.S.  President  Barack  Obama said he fully supports the South Korean
   leader's actions.
   The U.S. Defense Department has announced that it plans to conduct two
   previously  unplanned  naval  exercises with South Korea's military in
   the "near future."
   A  State  Department  spokesman said Washington and Seoul will seek to
   put together a "strong, concerted international response."
   The  United  States  is  also  enlisting  Japanese  support  for tough
   international action.  U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is holding
   talks  in  Washington  Tuesday  with his visiting counterpart, Toshimi
   Kitazawa.
   The  South  Korean  president said his government is not looking for a
   military   confrontation   and  will  continue  minimal  shipments  of
   humanitarian aid to the impoverished North. Â

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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