Obama pledges to defend South Korea

2 South Korean Marines died in skirmishes with North Korea

Associated Press

INCHEON, South Korea

North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire along their disputed frontier, raising tensions between the rivals to their highest level in more than a decade. The communist nation warned of more military strikes if the South encroaches on the maritime border by “even 0.001 millimeter.”

The skirmish began Tuesday 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 retaliated by shelling the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.

Seoul responded by unleashing its own barrage from K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzers and scrambling fighter jets. Two South Korean marines were killed in the shelling that also injured 15 troops and three civilians. Officials in Seoul said there could be considerable North Korean casualties.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged the United States would defend South Korea after what the White House branded a provocative, outrageous attack by North Korea on its neighbor. Its options limited, the U.S. sought a diplomatic rather than a military response to one of those most-ominous clashes between the Koreas in decades.

“South Korea is our ally. It has been since the Korean war,” Obama said in his first comments about the North Korean shelling of a South Korean island. “And we strongly affirm our commitment to defend South Korea as part of that alliance.”

Working to head off any escalation, the U.S. did not reposition any of its 29,000 troops in the South or make other military moves after North Korea fired salvos of shells into the island, setting off an artillery duel between the two sides.

The president, speaking to ABC News, would not speculate when asked about military options. He was expected to telephone South Korean President Lee Myung-bak late Tuesday. He met earlier with his top national security advisers to discuss the next steps.

Washington has relatively few options when dealing with Pyongyang. Military action is particularly unappealing, since the unpredictable North possesses crude nuclear weapons as well as a huge standing army. North Korea exists largely outside the system of international financial and diplomatic institutions that the U.S. has used as leverage in dealing with other hostile countries, including Iran.

North Korea also has resisted pressure from its major ally, China, which appears to be nervous about the signs of instability in its neighbor.

“We strongly condemn the attack, and we are rallying the international community to put pressure on North Korea,” Obama said in the ABC interview, specifically citing the need for China’s help.

Obama said every nation in the region must know “this is a serious and ongoing threat.”

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 condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates phoned South Korea’s defense minister to express sympathy for the deaths of the two marines and to express appreciation “for the restraint shown to date” by the South’s government, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Obama called North Korea’s action “just one more provocative incident” and said he would consult with Lee on an appropriate response.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. would take a “deliberate approach” in response to what he also called provocative North Korean behavior.