SKorean leader says his country has referred NKorea to UN Security Council over ship sinking
By Vijay Joshi, APFriday, June 4, 2010
SKorea refers North to Security Council over ship
SINGAPORE — South Korea’s leader said Friday his country has referred North Korea to the U.N. Security Council over the sinking of its warship, taking its strongest step ever toward making Pyongyang face international punishment.
Frosty relations between the Koreas have plunged since the sinking of a South Korean ship in March that killed 46 sailors. An international investigation found it was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine.
“North Korea violated our sovereignty and attacked directly our armed forces and one of our navy vessels. That clearly makes it a military provocation,” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a speech at a security summit.
North Korea “infiltrated our territorial waters and attacked one of our navy corvettes by firing a torpedo surreptitiously,” Lee told the annual Shangri-la Dialogue.
Lee said “the government has referred the matter to the U.N. Security Council.” He did not elaborate.
Despite a history of animosity, this is the first time Seoul has taken Pyongyang to the Security Council for an inter-Korean provocation, indicating that the South Koreans want to take the matter beyond the Korean peninsula.
It is not clear what action would result from a Security Council action as veto-holder China, North’s closest ally, is unlikely to back sanctions.
“If the enemy continues to taunt us … they must understand that we have a limit,” Lee said later in response to a question. South Korea wants to “give them a clear message that their acts of aggression will just not be condoned.”
Recent problems between South and North have involved Pyongyang’s secretive nuclear weapons program.
Lee said the world is undergoing rapid changes and each country is trying to stay ahead. “However there is one country in the world that still refuses to change. There is one country that is still living in the past. And that country is North Korea.
“North Korea, despite its appalling economy is still engaged in its attempt to become a nuclear weapon state.”
