Friday, June 4, 2010; 11:45 AM
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post staff writer
SINGAPORE -- South Korea said Friday that it has asked the U.N. Security Council to take measures against North Korea for allegedly torpedoing a warship, prompting the United States to hold off a fresh display of military force in the region.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said his government had formally referred the matter to the Security Council but did not specify if it was seeking new sanctions against North Korea, or lesser measures.
"If we think that after a while North Korea's action will be condoned and that stability on the Korean peninsula will somehow be maintained, then we would be fooling ourselves because North Korea would once again resort back to attacking others," Lee told a gathering of Asian leaders at a security conference here.
The United States has been considering new joint military exercises with South Korea as a show of force in response to the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, in which 46 sailors were killed. Seoul has accused Pyongyang of torpedoing the vessel, causing one of the worst security crises in the region since the Korean War.
But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that U.S. and South Korean officials had decided to give diplomacy a chance first.
"There's a desire to see what can be accomplished first at the U.N.," he told reporters after meeting in Singapore with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae Young. "What we do in terms of further exercises is still under consideration."
U.S. defense officials in Washington had said Wednesday that they were considering deploying an aircraft carrier, the George Washington, to the Yellow Sea as a warning to North Korea. In addition, Pentagon officials had previously said they were planning two major joint military exercises with South Korea to demonstrate solidarity against threats from Pyongyang.
En route to Singapore on Thursday, Gates told reporters that
"some additional exercises are being discussed," but added that he was "not aware of a plan to send a carrier to the waters off of South Korea."
After meeting with his South Korean counterpart Friday, Gates said it was unclear exactly what course of action Seoul would ask the Security Council to take.
"Whatever they choose to do with the U.N., they will have the full support of the United States," he said.
South Korea's options in the Security Council are limited without the backing of China, North Korea's strongest ally. Beijing is considered unlikely to agree to new sanctions against Pyongyang, and has already disappointed Seoul by declining to accept the results of an international investigation that held North Korea responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan.
The investigation -- led by South Korea and assisted by the United States, Australia, Sweden and Britain -- concluded two weeks ago that a North Korean mini-submarine fired a North Korean-made torpedo that sank the Cheonan. Evidence clearly showed, the investigation said, that the North Korean military plotted to attack the ship.
North Korea has denied responsibility and in turn accused Seoul and Washington of manufacturing the incident.
"Such outlandish assertions are laughable," Lee said in his speech in Singapore. "North Korea must admit its wrongdoing. It must pledge to never again engage in such reprehensible action."
North Korea as warned that "all-out war" could result if South Korea seeks to punish it for the torpedoing of the Cheonan. But Adm. Robert Willard, head of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told reporters in Singapore on Friday that there were no signs that North Korea was moving troops or preparing for hostilities.
"Right now we're not seeing indications that North Korea is intending the next provocation," Willard said. "But I think everyone in the region is watching North Korea very closely given their unpredictability."
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