Clinton: NKorea must face consequences for attack

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Clinton: NKorea must face consequences for attack

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Lee, Associated Press Writer – 1

hr 17 mins ago

TOKYO – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday the evidence

is " overwhelming " that a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean warship and

the communist country must face international consequences.

Speaking in Tokyo at the outset of a three-nation Asian trip, Clinton said the

U.S., Japan, South Korea and China are consulting on an appropriate reaction

after an international investigation blamed North Korea for the deadly attack.

She said the report proves a North Korean sub fired a torpedo that sank the

ship, the Cheonan, in March and that it could no longer be " business as usual "

in dealing with the matter.

While it was premature to discuss exact options or actions that will be taken in

response, Clinton said, it was " important to send a clear message to North Korea

that provocative actions have consequences. "

" The evidence is overwhelming and condemning. The torpedo that sunk the Cheonan

and took the lives of 46 South Korean sailors was fired by a North Korean

submarine, " she told reporters at a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign

Minister Katsuya Okada.

" We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the

international community, " she said.

North Korea denies it was responsible for the sinking and has threatened to

retaliate against any attempt to punish it with " all-out war. "

North Korea " will regard the present situation as the phase of a war and handle

all problems in inter-Korean relations accordingly, " Ri Chung Bok, deputy

director of the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of

Korea, said in an interview with broadcaster APTN in Pyongyang.

Clinton's Asian tour, which took her later Friday to China and to South Korea

next week, was supposed to focus on U.S.-China economic issues. But that was

before Thursday's release of the report which concluded that a North Korean sub

was responsible for sinking the South Korean ship on March 26.

Input from the three countries will be key to determining an appropriate

response, especially with fears that too tough a reaction could provoke new

hostilities or spark chaos in the region. The Obama administration has said it

wants South Korea to lead the way in coming up with possible responses.

Underscoring the concern, U.S. officials have refused to call the North's attack

on the ship an act of war or state-sponsored terror, warning that an

overreaction could cause the Korean peninsula to " explode. " They said they would

explore diplomatic steps through the U.N. or increase Washington's unilateral

sanctions against North Korea's Soviet-style state.

Clinton's main task during her time in Beijing may be trying to persuade the

Chinese to support U.N. Security Council action against North Korea. The Chinese

have the most leverage over the reclusive regime, and Beijing's support for any

international response to Pyongyang will be critical to its success. But China

has thus remained neutral.

In Shanghai, where Clinton traveled after her brief visit to Tokyo, two senior

U.S. officials said she would try to persuade the Chinese to " acknowledge the

reality " of what happened and support measures that would help persuade North

Korea to change its behavior. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due

to the delicacy of the diplomacy.

At an emergency national security meeting Friday in Seoul, South Korean

President Lee Myung-bak said his country was caught in a " perfect military

ambush " but called for a cautious response to the sinking. Lee said the attack

violated the U.N. Charter as well as the truce that ended the fighting in the

1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea is expected to announce what actions it will take on Monday, two

days before Clinton arrives in Seoul, the U.S. officials said.

After meeting with her Japanese counterpart Okada, Clinton said Tokyo and

Washington were seeking to resolve a dispute over the relocation of a key Marine

base on the southern island of Okinawa by the end of May — a deadline set by

Japan's prime minister that looks increasingly unlikely.

According to a 2006 agreement, the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma was to be

moved to a less crowded part of Okinawa, which hosts more than half the 47,000

U.S. troops stationed in Japan. But the government of Prime Minister Yukio

Hatoyama — who met with Clinton later Friday — has said it would like to move

Futenma off the island, an idea widely supported by the local population.

However, Tokyo hasn't found a viable alternative site, and Hatoyama earlier this

month said it was likely that at least part of Futenma's operations would remain

on Okinawa. One idea floated is to build a replacement airstrip on pilings off

the coast to reduce its environmental impact on nearby coral reefs.

The two U.S. officials told reporters in Shanghai that they believed progress is

being made in the negotiations, especially since the Cheonan incident that they

said had underlined the importance of the U.S. military presence in Japan and

South Korea.

Okada said the two sides were working together and that Tokyo would " make the

utmost efforts to gain the understanding of the Okinawan people. "

___

Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Songwon Yoon in Seoul

contributed to this report.