Clinton pledges support for South Korea

(News Today) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Washington's support for South Korea and called on North Korea to end belligerent actions after meetings with President Lee Myung-bak and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Wednesday.

"We will stand with you in this difficult hour and we will stand with you always," Clinton said at a news conference with Yu.

The meetings come at a time of high tensions on the Korean peninsula after Seoul blamed North Korea for the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan.

An official South Korean report has accused the communist North of firing a torpedo at the ship, killing 46 sailors.

Clinton said the international community has an obligation to respond to the alleged attack and promised to push the matter in the U.N. Security Council.

Meanwhile, a North Korean military official accused the South of intruding into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea from May 14 to May 24, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

"This is a deliberate provocation aimed to spark off another military conflict in the West Sea of Korea and thus push to a war phase the present north-south relations," the official said in a statement, according to Yonhap.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has already announced that South Korea was suspending trade with North Korea, closing its waters to the North's ships and adopting a newly aggressive military posture toward its neighbor.

While in China on Monday, Clinton said the United States supports the finding on the Cheonan's sinking.

She urged North Korea on Monday to reveal what it knows about the "act of aggression." She also said the United States' "support for South Korea's defense is unequivocal" and that North Korea should "stop its belligerence and threatening behavior."

"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," Clinton said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has directed military commanders to work with South Korean troops "to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression" from North Korea.

Source : CNN

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