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29 March 2024

Too early for military action: US

Published
By AFP

The United States said Tuesday it was too early to consider a military response to North Korea's attack on a South Korean island, while President Barack Obama was "outraged" by the deadly assault.

Obama was awakened before dawn with news of one of the worst border crises in 60 years and the White House immediately demanded Pyongyang respect an armistice agreement that ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean war.

The US leader, who visited Seoul this month, was expected to speak to South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak about the attack, and planned a meeting with his most senior advisors, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, as well as his top intelligence officials.

A State Department spokesman vowed that Washington and its international allies would pursue a "measured and unified" response to the attack, which left two marines dead.

"Moving forward, we're going to take a measured and unified approach," spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

"We're going to work with China, we're going to work with all our six party partners on a response," the spokesman said, referring to major world powers trying to resolve the international impasse over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Fears that the North Korean assault could turn into a full-blown war depressed US markets, as stocks, already hit by fears over Ireland's plight, slumped.

Anger over the attack also flared on Capitol Hill, where some US lawmakers said North Korea's latest act of aggression should not go unchallenged by the international community -- especially China, which is believed to have special leverage with Pyongyang.

"Two decades worth of attempts to appease this North Korean regime have failed, and further attempts to do so will meet with the same result," said US Senator John McCain.

"The Chinese government has perhaps the most influence on North Korea, and for the sake of regional security and stability, I urge China to play a more direct and responsible role in changing North Korea's reckless behavior," said McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate and an influential voice in Congress on military matters.

China is seen as the only state which has any influence on Pyongyang, and Washington has in the past exerted behind-the-scenes pressure on Beijing to press North Korea to avoid inflammatory actions.

The Pentagon was closely monitoring the latest confrontation with the nuclear-armed Stalinist state, and Defense Secretary Gates spoke by phone with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young, officials said.

"At this point it's premature to say that we're considering any action," spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters, adding that no additional US forces had been deployed to the region as a result of the North Korean artillery barrage.

Obama, awakened by his national security advisor Tom Donilon at 3:55 am (0855 GMT) as the crisis broke, left as planned on a trip with Vice President Joe Biden to a Chrysler auto plant in the state of Indiana.

White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One that though Obama would speak with Lee, there were currently no plans for him to make an on-camera statement.
"The president is outraged by this action. We stand shoulder to shoulder with South Korea," Burton said.

In an early morning statement, White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs said Washington was in close and continuing contact with its ally South Korea after the attack on Yeonpyeong island, which killed two South Korean marines.

"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," Gibbs 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."

Officials appeared to be taking care not to adopt any actions that could further inflame the situation, or reward Pyongyang's latest provocation, following a long showdown over its nuclear program.

Mindful of difficulties in dealing with North Korea's volatile leadership amid an apparent political succession, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told MSNBC the Pyongyang regime was "extremely unpredictable."

"They do things you could not possibly have predicted in a rational world," Morrell said.