Koreas trade artillery fire

North’s shells kill 2; South strikes back

Smoke rises Tuesday over South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island after North Korea fired an estimated 200 shells at the island, prompting a return barrage by the South.
Smoke rises Tuesday over South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island after North Korea fired an estimated 200 shells at the island, prompting a return barrage by the South.

— North Korea launched an artillery barrage on a South Korean island Tuesday, killing two South Korean marines, wounding at least 19 others and setting more than 60 buildings ablaze.

South Korea immediately responded with its own artillery barrage and put its fighter jets on high alert, bringing the two sides - which technically have remained in a state of war since the Korean armistice in 1953 - to the brink of a major conflagration.

President Barack Obama called South Korean President Lee Myung-bak after a meeting with his national security advisers to discuss the attack early Tuesday on the island that set off the exchange of artillery fire.

The White House said the two presidents agreed to hold combined military exercises and enhanced training in the days ahead to continue the close security cooperation between the two countries.

The exercise will include sending the aircraft carrier George Washington and a number of accompanying ships into the region both to deter further attacks by the North and to signal to China that unless it reins in its unruly ally, it will see an even larger U.S. presence in the vicinity.

Obama told his South Korean counterpart that the U.S. stands “shoulder to shoulder” with its close ally and will work with the international community to strongly condemn the “outrageous” attack.

“South Korea is our ally.It has been since the Korean War,” Obama said. “And we strongly affirm our commitment to defend South Korea as part of that alliance.”

The skirmish began when North Korea warned the South to halt military drills near their sea border, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters - but away from the North Korean shore - the North responded by shelling the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.

South Korea called the shelling of Yeonpyeong, which lies near the disputed maritime border separating North and South Korea, a breach of the armistice.

The communist nation warned of more military strikes if the South encroaches on the maritime border by “even 0.001 millimeter.”

The North fired an estimated 200 artillery shells onto the island, and the South returned fire with about 80 shells from its howitzers. The attack began just after 2:30 p.m.

News reports said the 1,000 or so residents of the island escaped to bunkers while the shelling continued. Television footage showed several plumes of black smoke rising from the island.

“I thought I would die,” said Lee Chun-ok, 54, an islander who said she was watching TV in her home when the shelling began. Suddenly, a wall and door collapsed.

“I was really, really terrified,” she told The Associated Press after being evacuated to the port city of Inchon, west of Seoul, “and I’m still terrified.”

At least 16 South Korean military personnel and three civilians were reported wounded in the North Korean artillery barrages. Most of the shells landed on a military base on Yeonpyeong which lies in the Yellow Sea about 72 miles west of Seoul and seven miles off the North Korean mainland.

Officials in Seoul said there could be considerable North Korean casualties.

CALLS TO CEASE HOSTILITIES

The United States, Russia and China called for a cessation of hostilities. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, in a statement, said, “The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the armistice agreement.” The U.S. keeps tens of thousands of troops in South Korea to aid in its defense, and Gibbs said, “The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability.”

Top national security aides planned to meet later Tuesday to discuss the situation. The White House said it would work with its international partners to determine the appropriate next steps.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S.would take a “deliberate approach” in response to what he called provocative North Korean behavior. At the same time, other administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the emerging strategy, said the White House was determined to end a diplomatic cycle that officials said rewards North Korean brinkmanship.

In the past, the U.S. and other nations have sweetened offers to North Korea as it has developed new missiles and prototype nuclear weapons. North Korea is now demanding new one-on-one talks with the United States, which rejects that model in favor of group diplomacy that includes North Korea’s protector, China.

“We’re not going to respond willy-nilly,” Toner said. “We believe that it’s important that we keep a unified and measured approach going forward.”

URANIUM ENRICHMENT

photo

Island shelled by North Korea.

The latest conflict comes at a particularly tense time on the Korean peninsula, just days after the reclusive government in Pyongyang revealed to a visiting American scientist the existence of a new uranium enrichment facility, and just weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jung Il began laying the groundwork for his youngest son to become his successor.

The flare-up also comes as the chief U.S. negotiator for the peninsula, Stephen Bosworth, was in Beijing for talks about how to respond to the North’s new uranium facility.

Bosworth said after the talks that China and the United States view the hostilities as “very undesirable” and agreed that restraint should be “exercised on all sides.” He added that the talks on North Korea’s uranium enrichment program “were very useful” and that both sides agreed on the need to pursue “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

The new North Korean uranium facility, which Stanford University scientist Siegfried Hecker over the weekend reported that he was taken to, is part of the main Yongbyon atomic complex. Hecker reported that the facility appeared modern and that his North Korean hosts told him that it contained 2,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium.

The North’s previously known nuclear program is plutonium-based. At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear weapons.

China, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry spokesman, urged a return to the suspended six-party talks to help defuse tensions.

CHINESE ANALYSIS

China is hermitic North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, contributing food aid as well as economic assistance and investment. The two fought together against American and South Korean troops in the Korean War. China is concerned, among other things, about a possible breakdown of the North Korean regime, which might lead to a flood of refugees across the border into China.

Chinese analysts Tuesday interpreted the North’s actions - coming so soon after the revelation of the new uranium enrichment facility - as a possible call for attention and an attempt to increase its bargaining position.

“It is my understanding that North Korea is creating some incidents to make the international world have contact with it,” said Chu Shulong, a professor from Tsinghua University. “And then it can bargain with the international world to get benefits.”

An administration official said Tuesday evening that U.S. officials in Washington and in Beijing were appealing strongly to China to condemn the attack by arguing that it was an act that threatened the stability of the entire region, not just the Korean peninsula. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned North Korea’s artillery attack, calling it “one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War,” his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban called for “immediate restraint” and insisted that “any differences should be resolved by peaceful means and dialogue,” the spokesman said.

South Korea faces an uphill struggle if it wants the U.N. Security Council to condemn North Korea for the attack or to impose a third round of sanctions. While Seoul can count on strong support from the U.S. and other Western powers on the council, it is likely to face opposition from China, a veto-wielding member.

The artillery exchange was only the latest serious incident between the two nations. In March a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan, exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors. South Korea accused the North of torpedoing the vessel; the North denied the allegation.

Information for this article was contributed by Keith B. Richburg, William Branigin, Wang Juan and Seo Yoonjung of The Washington Post; by Hyung-Jin Kim, Kwang-Tae Kim, Seulki Kim, Kelly Olsen, Ben Feller, Jim Kuhnhenn, Foster Klug, Anita Snow and Edith M. Lederer, Anne Gearan, Anne Flaherty, Julie Pace, Pauline Jelinek, Matthew Lee of The Associated Press; and by Mark McDonald, David E. Sanger, Su-hyun Lee, Kevin Drew, Alan Cowell, Ian Johnson, Clifford J. Levy and J. David Goodman of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/24/2010

Upcoming Events