(LEAD) S. Korea unveils slew of anti-N. Korea steps over sunken ship
By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea unveiled a slew of anti-North Korea measures Monday after Pyongyang was found responsible for the deadly sinking of the warship Cheonan, including launching its own anti-proliferation drill, resuming propaganda broadcasts along the border and halting aid and trade with the North.
North Korea expressed its anger over the broadcasts and has denied any role in the March 26 sinking that killed 46 southern sailors. A few hours after Seoul's announcement, the North's military threatened to shoot at South Korean loudspeakers to be set up along the border for anti-Pyongyang broadcasts.
Tensions between the two Koreas have spiked sharply since a multinational team of investigators announced Thursday that North Korea attacked the Cheonan with a heavy torpedo near their Yellow Sea border. The North has vowed an "all-out war" if it is punished.
On Monday, President Lee Myung-bak harshly denounced the North for the sinking, vowing to unhesitatingly exercise the country's right of self-defense in the event of future armed provocation by North Korea. Lee urged the North to apologize and punish those responsible.
Lee said Seoul will suspend all trade and exchange programs with the North, apart from a joint factory park project in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, while maintaining minimum levels of humanitarian aid for infants and children living in the impoverished country.
"Under these circumstances, any inter-Korean trade or other cooperative activity is meaningless," Lee said, adding that North Korean ships will no longer be allowed to use South Korean waterways as short-cuts, including waters off South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju.
South Korea's foreign, defense and unification ministers held a joint news conference shortly afterwards to announce the specifics of Lee's plan.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said South Korea will hold a joint anti-submarine exercise with the United States off the peninsula's west coast in the near future and launch its own ship interdiction drills targeting North Korea as part of the U.S.-led anti-proliferation program, known as Proliferation Security Initiative or PSI.
The propaganda broadcasts were to resume later Monday and will be aired three times a day, according to defense ministry officials. The broadcasts will later blare along the border after some 100 loudspeakers are set up in about two weeks.
Seoul will also install 11 giant electronic signboards along the border and send leaflets to the North from as early as Tuesday detailing the results of the Cheonan probe and international responses, they said.
The North's military threatened to shoot down South Korean loudspeakers if the South restarts propaganda broadcasts. The two Koreas suspended this type of psychological warfare under a 2004 reconciliation agreement.
"If the group of traitors challenges the just reaction of the DPRK, this will be followed by stronger physical strike to eliminate the root cause of the provocations," said the North's unidentified military commander in charge of the central sector of the front, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Analysts have said that large-scale military exercises in the South could put pressure on the North, as the regime has to put its military on alert in response to the maneuvers and spend some of its scarce resources.
PSI drills are aimed at stopping rogue states like North Korea from transferring weapons of mass destruction or their components, such as missiles or missile parts. Pyongyang has denounced the PSI campaign, calling it a U.S. move to overthrow the regime.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said that South Korea will suspend trade and ban any new investment in the North while halting all but humanitarian aid for the impoverished neighbor. But the joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong will remain intact, he said, with reduced number of South Korean personnel staying there.
"If North Korea ignores our careful consideration to preserve the complex even under current circumstances, and subsequently threatens the safety of our citizens there, we will never tolerate any harm to our citizens," Hyun said without elaborating.
About 1,000 South Koreans work in the Kaesong complex, which employs 42,000 low-wage but skilled North Korean workers to produce labor-intensive goods.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan vowed an all-out diplomatic campaign to rally international support for South Korea's plan to take the sinking to the U.N. Security Council.
South Korea hopes to get the Council to adopt new sanctions or toughen existing ones in order to punish the North. But its prospects are unclear as China and Russia, which are permanent Council members with veto powers, could oppose the move.
"It is difficult to predict" what action the Council will be able to take, Yu said.
China, the North's last-remaining major ally, has taken an unclear position on the issue, apparently mindful of Pyongyang's denial. Beijing is thought to have the most influence over the North, but has been reluctant to use its leverage for fear that pushing the North too hard could lead to its collapse and instability in the region.
Beijing's chief nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, arrived in Seoul on Monday for discussions with his South Korean counterpart, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Their talks are expected to include the Cheonan's sinking.
jschang@yna.co.kr
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