World News : U.S., Seoul Ratchet Up Pressure on North Korea

U.S., Seoul Ratchet Up Pressure on North Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea's military actions against the South have placed Northeast Asia in a "precarious situation" and that the U.S. was intensifying efforts to de-escalate regional tensions while still deterring Pyongyang.

Mrs. Clinton said the Obama administration was initiating a review of the U.S.'s military and economic posture towards Kim Jong Il's government to ensure the safety of its regional treaty allies, South Korea and Japan.

Mrs. Clinton also said she was engaging in extensive discussions on Northeast Asia's security situation with North Korea's closest ally, China, in order to increase pressure on Pyongyang.

"We are working hard to avoid an escalation of belligerence and provocation,'' Mrs. Clinton told reporters Monday on the sidelines of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing. "This is a highly precarious situation that the North Koreans have caused in the region.''

The White House earlier Monday strongly backed a string of measures announced by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for allegedly sinking a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in March.

Mr. Lee said Seoul was severing virtually all of its economic ties with North Korea while banning North Korean ships from South Korea's territorial waters. South Korea's leader also said he had instructed his military to renew anti-North Korean propaganda activities across the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and prepare for heightened joint-military exercises with U.S. forces. Seoul also said it was preparing to bring North Korea's actions to the United Nations Security Council, potentially to enact new sanctions against Pyongyang.

"The United States fully supports President Lee's responsible handling of the Cheonan incident, and the objective investigation that followed, which we and other international observers joined," Mrs. Clinton said. "We endorse President Lee's call on North Korea to come forward with the facts regarding this act of aggression and, above all, stop its belligerence and threatening behavior."

The Obama administration also said it was reviewing the Pentagon's military posture towards the North and was considering taking other measures to retaliate for the Cheonan incident. One measure the U.S. continues to examine, Mrs. Clinton said, was to relist North Korea on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Bush administration removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 in a bid to support disarmament talks.

"The Department of State continually reviews North Korea's actions to determine if the evidence supports its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism," Mrs. Clinton said. "If the evidence warrants, the Department of State will take action."

In his nationally televised speech, Mr. Lee urged North Korea to apologize for the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, which resulted in the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors, and punish those who were responsible for it.

"If the North continues to make excuses and wild assertions as it has always done in the past, they will not find any place to stand in the world," Mr. Lee said in the speech, designed to be his first extensive comments since an investigation panel last week accused North Korea of the attack.

In declaring an end to economic exchanges with North Korea, Mr. Lee indicated he had not made a decision on what to do with the South's largest economic connection to the North—an industrial complex just inside the North where about 100 South Korean companies employ 40,000 North Koreans. Mr. Lee was vague about what may happen to it, saying he will take its "unique characteristics into consideration."

He said South Korea will continue to provide food and other assistance for infants and children.

The Obama administration's chief diplomat acknowledged that China will play a pivotal role in any international efforts to punish North Korea, as well as to restrain it. Beijing is Pyongyang's principal military ally and economic partner. To date, China has tried to take a neutral position between the two Koreas, a stance Mrs. Clinton has said she'll try to change.

"I can say that the Chinese recognize the gravity of the situation we face," Mrs. Clinton said. "The Chinese understand the reaction by the South Koreans, and they also understand our unique responsibility for the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula."

Mrs. Clinton also praised Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for his announcement Sunday that he was reversing his campaign promise to remove U.S. Marines from the Futenma base in Okinawa. The Japanese leader said his decision was driven, in part, by the heightened security threats in Northeast Asia.

"As a former politician, I know how hard Prime Minister Hatoyama's decision was, and I thank him for his courage and determination to fulfill his commitments," Mrs. Clinton said. "This is truly the foundation for our future work as allies in the Asia Pacific region."