US and South Korea push ahead with war games

The US and South Korea prepared for war games tomorrow as South Koreans demanded vengeance over a deadly North Korean artillery bombardment that has raised fears of more clashes between the bitter rivals.

The North, meanwhile, worked to justify one of the worst attacks on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War. Four South Koreans, including two civilians, died after the North rained artillery on the small Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which is home to both fishing communities and military bases.

North Korea said civilians were used as a “human shield” around artillery positions and lashed out at what it called a “propaganda campaign” against Pyongyang.

It claimed the US orchestrated last Tuesday’s clash so that it could stage joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea with the South that include a US nuclear powered supercarrier – enraging the North and making neighbouring China uneasy.

China sent a senior official, Dai Bingguo, to Seoul today for talks with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Dai, accompanied by chief Chinese nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei, discussed Tuesday’s attack and international talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear programmes, it said.

The North Korean attack on an area with a civilian population marked a new level of hostility along the rivals’ disputed sea border. Only eight months ago, according to the findings of a South Korean-led international investigation, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in waters farther west, killing 46 sailors.

The aggression could be linked to the North’s attempt to strengthen its government as it pursues a delicate transfer of power from leader Kim Jong Il to a young, unproven son. It also may reflect Pyongyang’s frustration that it has been unable to force a resumption of stalled international talks on receiving aid in return for nuclear disarmament.

The attack laid bare weaknesses 60 years after the Korean War in South Korea’s defences against the North, which does not recognise the border drawn by the UN at the close of the conflict and which considers waters around Yeonpyeong as its territory.

The skirmish prompted President Lee Myung-bak to replace his defence minister on Friday.

At a funeral today near Seoul, South Korea’s marine commander, Major General You Nak-jun, vowed a “thousand-fold” retaliation for the attack. Dignitaries and relatives laid white flowers at an altar for the two marines killed in the North’s attack. The mother of one of the victims fell forward in her chair in grief.

Passers-by paused at Seoul’s main train station to watch funeral footage on a big screen.

“Once the enemy attacks us, it is our duty to respond even more strongly,” said student Jeon Hyun-soo, 19. “The South Korean people want this.”

South Korea is conducting artillery drills on Tuesday from the island, located just seven miles (11km) from North Korea’s mainland, but fired away from the mainland.

The North said tomorrow’s planned war games showed that the US was “the arch criminal who deliberately planned the incident and wire-pulled it behind the scene”.

The war games starting tomorrow and involving the USS George Washington supercarrier display resolve by Korean War allies Washington and Seoul to respond strongly to any future North Korean aggression. However, Washington has insisted the drills are routine and were planned well before last Tuesday’s attack.

North Korea today warned of retaliatory attacks creating a “sea of fire” if its territory is violated.

President Lee told top officials “there is a possibility North Korea may take provocative actions during the (joint) exercise,” and urged them to coordinate with US forces to counter any such move, according to a spokesman in the president’s office.