S. Korea calls for UN action on ship sinking
Source: Agencies |
June 5, 2010, Saturday
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SOUTH Korea has referred North Korea to the United Nations Security Council over the sinking of a warship, taking the strongest step yet toward making Pyongyang face international punishment.
Relations between the Koreas have become war-like since the sinking of the South Korean ship in March that killed 46 sailors. An international investigation found it was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine.
In a hard-hitting speech bereft of diplomatic politeness, President Lee Myung-bak called North Korea "a liar, a war-monger, an unrepentant rogue nation and a threat to Northeast Asia."
"North Korea must admit its wrongdoing" and "pledge to never again engage in such a reprehensible action," Lee said yesterday. "If the enemy continues to taunt us and think that they can do whatever they want they must understand that there is a limit."
They "must understand very clearly that they will have to suffer the consequences."
Lee, who was addressing Asia-Pacific defense ministers including United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, called for international support to act against North Korea and its secret nuclear weapons program.
"If we think that after a while North Korea's action will be condoned and stability in the peninsula will somehow be maintained we will be fooling ourselves because North Korea will once again resort to attacking others," Lee said.
In a bid to make Pyongyang realize its folly, the South Korean government "referred the matter of North Korea's attack on Cheonan to the UN Security Council," Lee told the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore.
Chung Min-lee, a senior South Korean official, later told reporters that the Security Council "has to step up to the plate with some type of action. Whether it is new sanctions is unknown."
Earlier, Gates told reporters that a joint show of force by the US and South Korea may wait until the UN considers accusations against North Korea. "There's a sequencing involved in this, and it may be that there is a desire first to see what can be accomplished at the UN and then think about next steps," Gates said.
He suggested that what had been a fast-moving push for new joint military exercises has slowed. Both countries have been vague about what the exercises would look like and when they would start.
One concern is not to do anything that would provoke North Korea further, he said.
Relations between the Koreas have become war-like since the sinking of the South Korean ship in March that killed 46 sailors. An international investigation found it was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine.
In a hard-hitting speech bereft of diplomatic politeness, President Lee Myung-bak called North Korea "a liar, a war-monger, an unrepentant rogue nation and a threat to Northeast Asia."
"North Korea must admit its wrongdoing" and "pledge to never again engage in such a reprehensible action," Lee said yesterday. "If the enemy continues to taunt us and think that they can do whatever they want they must understand that there is a limit."
They "must understand very clearly that they will have to suffer the consequences."
Lee, who was addressing Asia-Pacific defense ministers including United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, called for international support to act against North Korea and its secret nuclear weapons program.
"If we think that after a while North Korea's action will be condoned and stability in the peninsula will somehow be maintained we will be fooling ourselves because North Korea will once again resort to attacking others," Lee said.
In a bid to make Pyongyang realize its folly, the South Korean government "referred the matter of North Korea's attack on Cheonan to the UN Security Council," Lee told the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore.
Chung Min-lee, a senior South Korean official, later told reporters that the Security Council "has to step up to the plate with some type of action. Whether it is new sanctions is unknown."
Earlier, Gates told reporters that a joint show of force by the US and South Korea may wait until the UN considers accusations against North Korea. "There's a sequencing involved in this, and it may be that there is a desire first to see what can be accomplished at the UN and then think about next steps," Gates said.
He suggested that what had been a fast-moving push for new joint military exercises has slowed. Both countries have been vague about what the exercises would look like and when they would start.
One concern is not to do anything that would provoke North Korea further, he said.
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