World

Clinton Asks China's Help on Korean Warship Spat

May 23, 2010 / 9:38 PM EDT / CBS/AP

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging China to work with the United States to coordinate a response to the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.

Opening high-level U.S.-China talks in Beijing, Clinton said Monday that North Korea must be held to account for the incident that investigators say was caused by a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine. China is North Korea's main ally and has thus far remained neutral on the investigation.

South Korea plans to ask the U.N. Security Council later Monday to take up the matter, which it sees as a violation of the truce that ended the Korean War. U.S. officials say they have to convince China that North Korea was responsible for the ship sinking.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday in an address to the nation that Seoul will also suspend all exchange programs with Pyongyang except for a joint factory park in the North.

Investigators said evidence overwhelmingly proves North Korea fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan into two on March 26. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea waters near the Koreas' maritime border, but 46 perished.

"(We) will take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation," Lee told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a phone conversation, the presidential office said.

The White House called the sinking an unacceptable "act of aggression" that violates international law and the truce signed in 1953.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, called the investigation results "deeply troubling," his spokesman said in a statement.

China, North Korea's traditional ally, called the sinking of the naval ship "unfortunate" but stopped short of backing Seoul. Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai refused to comment further Thursday other than reiterating long-standing Chinese comments on the need to maintain peace on the Korean peninsula.

He says South Korea is prepared to defend against any future provocation.

Clinton said Friday that evidence against North Korea was "overwhelming."

Speaking in the Japanese capital at the outset of a three-nation Asian trip, Clinton said the U.S., Japan, South Korea and China are consulting on an appropriate reaction to an international investigation that blamed North Korea for the incident.

While it was "premature" to discuss exact options or actions that will be taken in response, Clinton said it was "important to send a clear message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences."

"The evidence is overwhelming and condemning. The torpedo that sunk the Cheonan ... was fired by a North Korean submarine," she told reporters at a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

"We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community," she said. "This will not be and cannot be business as usual. There must be an international, not just a regional, but an international response."

North Korea denies it was responsible for the sinking and has threatened to retaliate against any attempt to punish it with "all-out war."