South Korea will take the case of its sunken naval vessel to the UN Security Council, the presidential office said yesterday, as pressure mounted on North Korea, which is accused of torpedoing the ship.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will deliver a speech about the incident today, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.
“The president will present frameworks of measures, one about our own steps and the other about measures through international cooperation ... He will also mention a plan to bring the case to the UN Security Council,” Lee Dong-kwan said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Last week, Seoul released the findings of a report which concluded that a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan corvette, killing 46 sailors. The North has denied the accusation.
Lee said the president would also demand a response from North Korea.
“President Lee Myung-bak may mention the name of the leader Kim Jong-il [in the conclusion of the speech],” he said.
Washington has called for an “international response” to the sinking, without specifying what form this might take.
An international response could range from fresh UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, although those might be opposed by China, to a statement of condemnation by the world body.
A range of sanctions are already in place against North Korea for its missile and nuclear tests of recent years.
South Korea can be sure of a sympathetic hearing from permanent Security Council members the US and Britain, both of which sent officials to help the investigation into the sinking.
Much more difficult will to be to win over China, which effectively bankrolls Pyongyang’s economy and which has so far declined to be drawn on the question of blame over the sinking.
Analysts say Beijing is willing to prop up the North’s government rather than risk the country’s implosion spilling across its border and may be unwilling to further sanction Pyongyang.
“Japan has said it will cooperate with South Korea when deciding how it will act. So I think we will consider our action accordingly,” said Hidenobu Sobashima, deputy press secretary at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
South Korea has repeatedly said it would not strike back at the North, aware that would frighten away investors already jittery about the escalating tension on the divided peninsula.
In other developments, South Korean authorities have arrested a North Korean female spy who posed as a refugee in order to obtain classified information on Seoul’s subway system, a news report said yesterday.
The information could be used for terrorist attacks, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency said, citing the National Intelligence Service and Seoul prosecutors.
The 36-year-old woman, known only by her family name Kim, entered South Korea via China and Laos in September of last year, passing herself off as a North Korean defector, Yonhap said.
Kim obtained the classified information, including a list of emergency contacts for Seoul subway staff, from a 52-year-old former subway employee named only as Oh and handed it over to Pyongyang, it said.
Oh, who met Kim online and later became her lover, was also arrested for leaking classified documents, the report said.
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