CINA

Two Koreas argue over warships (al-Jazeera, 4.04) 
  
North Korea has accused South Korean warships of infiltrating its territorial waters, warning of "unpredictable countermeasures" amid increasing hostility on the peninsula.

 
The North's navy command late on Thursday said three warships had entered its waters in a "serious military provocation", claims dismissed by South Korea's defence ministry.
 

Pyongyang has made a string of hostile gestures since Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, took office in February pledging to take a harder line with the North.

The charges came as a US general nominated to head the allied forces in South Korea said Seoul was lacking in missile defences.

 
North Korea has announced the suspension of all dialogue and the closing of its border to South Korean officials as both sides continued to trade barbs.

Earlier this week, the South Korean president was labelled a "conservative political charlatan", "traitor" and US "sycophant" for his tougher policies on the North, which includes linking aid to nuclear disarmament.

Aside from the rhetoric, Pyongyang has test-fired missiles in the past few days and, last week, accused South Korean ships of breaching a disputed sea border.
 
 
Analysts say the North may stage more missile tests, or naval manoeuvres near the disputed Yellow Sea border – the scene of bloody clashes in 1999 and 2002.

The North's hostile reaction came after Seoul refused to apologise for recent remarks by its military commander which the North interpreted as authorising a pre-emptive military strike.

Lee's predecessors had practiced a "sunshine" policy of engagement, under which aid and investment worth billions of dollars flowed into the North.

 
On Thursday, Lieutenant-General Walter Sharp told senators in Washington that South Korea lacked adequate anti-missile defences to counter a missile threat from the North.

Sharp, in a written response to the Senate Armed Services committee, said Pyongyang had 13,000 artillery systems and 800 missiles.

North Korea had 250 long-range artillery systems capable of reaching Seoul, he said.

"North Korea still has the capacity to inflict major destruction and significant military and civilian casualties in South Korea with little to no warning," he wrote.

South Korea's defence ministry had said the North was deliberately misinterpreting Seoul's objectives and remarks by its officials and told Pyongyang to stop its verbal attacks on Lee.

 
But Pyongyang continued with its rhetoric, accusing Seoul of driving inter-Korean relations to "catastrophe".

Lee has said that South Korean aid to the impoverished North will no longer be given unconditionally.
 
In a marked change from previous administrations he has also said that his government will not shy away from criticising Pyongyang's human-rights abuses.  
 

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BDD069B6-55D3-4231-A319-8D78D6B65C21.htm

Related stuff:

"North Korea said yesterday it would take 'military countermeasures' against what it called belligerent remarks by South Korea." (Korea Herald, 4.04) 

☞ Criticizing President Lee, What is Its Tactic? (DailyNK, 4.04)

☞ Renewed urgency to rein in North Korea (Asia Times, 4.04)

☞ 《남조선당국이 반북대결로 얻을것은 파멸뿐이다》-리명박《정권》 (로동신문, 4.01)