U.S., S. Korea Raise Military Alert Level
South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert Thursday to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels.
The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North's underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier this week.
In response, Seoul decided to join more than 90 nations that have agreed to stop and inspect vessels suspected of transporting banned weapons.
North Korea claims the South's participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative is a prelude to a naval blockade and raises the prospect of a naval skirmish in its western waters.
U.S. forces in South Korea went to "watch condition two," one step below the highest level, reports CBS News correspondent David Martin from the Pentagon.
Confrontations with North Korea are nothing new but former Bush administration official Dennis Wilder says this one's dicier.
"It's dangerous because we really don't know what the North Korean leader is looking for at this moment," Wilder, Mr. Bush's top national security official for Asia, told Martin.
Kim Jong Il, who suffered a stroke and still appears frail, may be trying to manufacture a crisis to rally his people behind him; he could be trying to test the new Obama administration; or could simply be determined to develop nuclear weapons and the clout that comes with them, Martin reports.
On Wednesday, the North renounced the 1953 truce that halted fighting in the Korean War. It said Thursday through its official media that it was preparing for an American-led attack. The U.S. has repeatedly denied it is planning military action.
"The northward invasion scheme by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet regime has exceeded the alarming level," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "A minor accidental skirmish can lead to a nuclear war."
The two Koreas remain technically at war since a peace treaty has never replaced the truce.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young accused the North of "seriously distorting" the decision to join in the initiative and called Pyongyang's response "a groundless misconception."
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said the South Korea-U.S. combined forces command has raised its surveillance from a level 3 to a level 2. He said the last time the alert level was that high was the in 2006, when the North conducted its first nuclear test.
A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer, speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said the South's military has also bolstered "personnel and equipment deployment" along its land and sea borders.
He said, however, that there has been no particular movement of North Korean troops along the heavily fortified border areas.
There are 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan. All are within striking range of North Korea's missiles.
Though the officer refused to give details, South Korea has recently deployed more anti-air missiles and artillery at its military bases on islands near the disputed western sea border with North Korea, South Korea's mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday.
A South Korean destroyer has also been deployed near the sea border to prepare for any provocations, the paper said.
Seoul has said its military was prepared to "respond sternly" to any North Korean provocation, and would be able to contain the North with the help of U.S. troops.
Whatever Kim's intentions, the U.S. is counting on U.N. sanctions to change his mind. But North Korea is a uniquely tough case.
"It's hard to deal with a regime like this. It's hard to find the points of leverage. Unlike the Iranians, who want to join the world, the north Koreans right now - that regime doesn't really care about being part of the world," Wilder told Martin
China, which does $3 billion worth of trade and supplies 90 percent of the North's fuel, is one point of leverage, but China can't afford to be too tough.
"If North Korea were to implode, China would find 2 million people quickly moving to their borders as refugees," Wilder said. "They don't want that."
The U.N. Command on Korea issued a statement defending the armistice and said it would continue to observe it.
"The armistice has served as the legal basis for the cease-fire in Korea for over 55 years and significantly contributes to stability in the region," it said. "The armistice remains in force and is binding on all signatories, including North Korea."
Experts said the recent flurry of belligerence from North Korea may reflect an effort by leader Kim Jong Il, who is reportedly grooming one of his sons as his successor, to boost his standing among his impoverished people by generating fear and claiming to be strong in the face of outside threats.
It was also seen testing the new administration of President Obama.
North Korea has announced it was abandoning the armistice several times before - most recently in 2003 and 2006.
The truce doesn't cover the waters off the west coast, and North Korea has used the maritime border dispute to provoke two deadly naval skirmishes - in 1999 and 2002.
Diplomats, meanwhile, discussed further what measures should be taken to punish the North.
The Obama administration on Wednesday sought more international support for its tough stance on the North as U.S. officials revealed plans for a presidential meeting with Russian leaders on the matter in July and pressed for a cohesive front later this week during a meeting of Far East defense ministers.
"We will be in close consultation with our friends," Jones said during a speech delivered to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based foreign policy group.
As Jones spoke, Defense Secretary Robert Gates took on the delicate task of reassuring Asian allies of U.S. support without further provoking the communist government. Gates flew to Singapore on Wednesday for meetings with foreign ministers aimed at firming up a unified response to the North Korean atomic test.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned of "consequences" on Wednesday, but it remained unclear what action the United Nations Security Council would take.
The five permanent veto-wielding council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - and the two countries most closely affected by the nuclear test, Japan and South Korea, discussed possible U.N. sanctions and other measures for a new Security Council resolution on Tuesday.
A diplomat, who is familiar with the talks but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were closed, said Wednesday there was a clear commitment to go for sanctions in the new resolution and no reluctance from North Korea's allies, China and Russia.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said a new resolution should be stronger than the one issued after the North's first atomic test in October 2006 and contain sanctions.
"The five permanent members of the Security Council are expected to meet Thursday afternoon," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, reporting from U.N. headquarters.
"There are ideas circulating which include strengthening the sanctions already in the 2006 Resolution (1718) or adding elements of an earlier Resolution (1540) which called on states to take cooperative action to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear materials," Falk added.
Aso indicated the possibility that Japan might impose its own unilateral sanctions, though he said he has to see the content of the U.N. resolution currently being discussed.