South Korea vows sanctions against North over warship sinking

South Korea’s president said his nation will no longer tolerate North Korea’s “brutality” and said the regime would pay for a surprise torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

President Lee Myung-bak vowed to take Pyongyang to the UN Security Council for punishment over the March 26 sinking of the warship.

He also said Seoul would also cut all trade with the impoverished regime – part of measures primarily aimed at striking back at the isolated wartime foe diplomatically and financially.

In Beijing, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pyongyang must be held accountable for the sinking of the Cheonan, and pushed to get China’s support of diplomatic action.

China, a veto-wielding permanent seat holder on the Security Council and North Korea’s main ally and benefactor, refrained from criticising the neighbouring nation.

The March sinking of the Cheonan was South Korea’s worst military disaster since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the choppy Yellow Sea waters near the Koreas’ maritime border, but 46 perished.

An international team of investigators concluded last week that a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that tore the ship in two.

Mr Lee, addressing the nation from the War Memorial, called it a “military provocation” that was part of an “incessant” pattern of attacks by communist North Korea, including the downing of an airliner in 1987 that killed 115 people.

“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again. We did so because we have always had a genuine longing for peace on the Korean peninsula,” Mr Lee said.

“But now things are different. North Korea will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts,” he said. “I will continue to take stern measures to hold the North accountable.”

The truce signed in 1953 prevents South Korea from taking unilateral military action. However, Mr Lee said South Korea was prepared to defend itself from further provocations.

The UN Armistice Commission was investigating whether the sinking of the Cheonan violated the armistice.

North Korea steadfastly denied responsibility for the sinking of the Cheonan. Naval spokesman Colonel Pak In Ho warned last week in comments to broadcaster APTN that any move to retaliate or punish Pyongyang would mean war.

As Mr Lee spoke today, North Korea’s main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, called the investigation results an “intolerable, grave provocation” tantamount to a declaration of war.

“The traitor’s group will not avoid our merciless punishment,” the paper said in commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea routinely denies involvement in attacks blamed on Pyongyang, including a 1983 bombing in then-Burma targeting a South Korean presidential delegation and the 1987 downing of the airliner over the Andaman Sea.

The two Koreas’ militaries also have clashed in the waters off the west coast.

North Korea disputes the maritime border unilaterally drawn by UN forces at the close of the Korean War, and the Koreas fought three bloody skirmishes since 1999 – most recently in November, when a gunfight killed one North Korean, according to the South Korean military.

Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said the military would hold joint drills with the US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea.

He said Seoul will also resume psychological warfare against the North that was suspended in 2004 during a period of warming relations.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, laying out measures aimed at punishing North Korea economically, said South Korea would cut off all trade with North Korea and ban its cargo ships from South Korean waters. Seoul has been North Korea’s second biggest trading partner.

However, a joint factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong where some 110 South Korean firms employ about 42,000 North Koreans, will stay open. Seoul will also continue providing humanitarian help for infants, children and the weak.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Seoul’s countermeasures had the support of 21 nations – including the US, Japan, Britain and France. He said Seoul has also been working with China and Russia.

North Korea has been punished with two Security Council resolutions since conducting a nuclear test in 2006. Punitive measures could include more economic sanctions or condemnation of provocative acts.

The White House said President Barack Obama “fully supports” the South Korean president and his response.

In a statement released early today, the White House said Seoul can continue to count on the full support of the United States.

The White House said the Obama administration endorsed Mr Lee’s demand that North Korea immediately apologise and punish those responsible for the attack and stop its belligerent and threatening behaviour.