Both Koreas issue threats on eve of US-Seoul war games

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/korea-tensions-yellow-sea-war-games

Both Koreas issue threats on eve of US-Seoul war games

North Korea says if US deploys nuclear carrier in Yellow Sea 'no one can predict

the consequences'

in New York The Observer, Sunday 28 November 2010

As US and South Korean forces prepared for joint war games in the Yellow Sea

today, North Korea threatened further attacks and accused its neighbour of using

civilians as " human shields " .

The developments deepened fears of serious armed conflict in the region, which

is undergoing its greatest period of tension since the 1950-53 Korean war. Using

typically bellicose language, a state-run website in the North warned that the

military exercises would be an " unpardonable provocation " and that it would

create a " sea of fire " if any of its own territory was violated.

At the same time the North Korean state news agency accused the South of causing

casualties by using civilians as shields around military installations on the

island of Yeonpyeong, where Northern artillery fire killed two South Korean

marines and two civilians last week.

" Responsibility lies in enemies' inhumane action of creating a 'human shield' by

deploying civilians around artillery positions, " the agency said, blaming the US

for creating a " propaganda campaign " against it. Such accusations by the North

are a common feature of the periodic crises that flare up on the Korean

peninsula, but there seems little doubt the current situation is gravely

serious. This time the public mood in the South appears to have turned away from

placating its unpredictable neighbour in favour of a more punishing policy.

At a funeral yesterday for the marines killed on Yeonpyeong, the South Korean

military commander, Major-General You Nak-jun, laid flowers at an altar and

vowed that his country would retaliate if there was a further attack from the

North. " Our marine corps ... will carry out a hundred – or thousand-fold… " in

retaliation, he said at the ceremony. " We will put our feelings of rage and

animosity in our bones and take our revenge on North Korea, " he added.

At the same time protesters in Seoul took to the streets demanding a tougher

response. They included a demonstration by some 70 former special forces troops

who donned white headbands and confronted riot police with wooden batons and

fire extinguishers in front of the defence ministry. Elsewhere 1,000 marine

veterans burned photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and chanted

slogans urging action. " Time for retaliation. Let's hit the presidential palace

in Pyongyang, " they shouted.

The crisis has already cost the South Korean defence minister, Kim Tae-young,

his job amid accusations that the response to North Korea's initial attack had

been too weak. Now the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, has sent 4,000

troops as reinforcements to Yeonpyeong and other nearby islands with extra

weapons and new rules of engagement that give them greater scope to respond if

attacked.

The world's diplomatic corps is working feverishly to contain the crisis and

make sure there is no further conflict. China, which is widely seen as having

influence over the North, has held talks with the US between its foreign

minister, Yang Jiechi, and the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. " The

pressing task now is to put the situation under control, " the Chinese foreign

ministry quoted Yang as telling Clinton.

Meanwhile the US stressed that its military operation with the South – which

includes deployment of a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier – was not intended to

provoke the North. Yet the North's news agency addressed that issue: " If the US

brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea [Yellow Sea] at last, no one can

predict the ensuing consequences. "

The crisis has special resonance due to the delicate nature of politics in the

secretive North. The country is undergoing a mostly opaque transition of power

from the elder Kim to his son Kim Jong-un, who is only in his 20s. It also comes

just after the North unexpectedly revealed a new, apparently ultra-modern

uranium enrichment facility that could improve its ability to add to its nuclear

weapons capability.