US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that North Korea may stage more “provocations” while being held to account for the sinking of a South Korean warship that has inflamed cross-border tensions.
Gates, who met counterparts from Japan and South Korea on the sidelines of an Asian security conference that wrapped up in Singapore Sunday, called for a united front but admitted Washington and its allies had limited options.
Attention now shifts to the UN Security Council after South Korea referred the issue to the body, stepping up a campaign to punish its communist neighbour for one of the worst peacetime incidents since the Korean War ended in 1953.
In an interview with the BBC released Sunday, Gates said: “As long as the regime doesn’t care what the outside world thinks of it, as long as it doesn’t care about the well-being of its people, there’s not a lot you can do about it, to be quite frank, unless you’re willing at some point to use military force.
“And nobody wants to do that.”
While condemning North Korea’s alleged torpedo attack on the Cheonan in March that killed 46 South Korean sailors, Washington and Seoul have called for calm and avoided talk of a military response during the Singapore forum known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Given the North’s volatile reputation, it is “possible there are other provocations to come,” Gates said.
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said Sunday that “the security situation on the Korean peninsula, which has dominated our discussions at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, is now highly precarious.”
“It provides a grim reminder that there are still traditional flashpoints that, in the blink of an eye, can potentially destabilise the entire region,” added Teo, who is also defence minister.
Gates told his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Saturday that “it’s important we have a unified front to deter further provocations,” his press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters.
North Korea has angrily denied responsibility for the warship’s sinking and warned of retaliation if it is hauled before the Security Council, even raising the prospect of all-out war on the peninsula.
Minju Joson, an official North Korean mouthpiece, said Sunday that South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak was engaged in a “conspiracy with US and Japanese masters” against his fellow Koreans.
To counter the threat posed by the North, Seoul was considering deploying Patriot anti-missile batteries on its territory, Hong Kong’s Sunday Morning Post reported, citing unnamed South Korean officials.
Such a move risked angering China and still needed to be approved in budget and policy reviews later this year, the paper wrote.
Tensions are running high on the peninsula after a multinational probe last month concluded a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan, triggering trade reprisals from South Korea and threats of war from the North.
In his speech to the security conference, Gates said the US administration was looking at “additional options” against the North, apart from UN diplomacy and planned military exercises with South Korea.
He did not specify what the new measures might be.
South Korea laid out its evidence against North Korea in meetings with defence officials in Singapore, seeking to pile pressure on Security Council permanent members Russia and China — which have yet to pin blame on the North for the Cheonan sinking.
Gates warned during the Singapore meeting of the risks of inaction and said regional nations must not tolerate Pyongyang’s “reckless” acts.
South Korea on Friday formally asked the Security Council to respond to the sinking, which president Lee described as a “military provocation”.
US officials said military commanders in Seoul and Washington were considering training exercises as a major show of force.
But a joint anti-submarine drill set for next week was postponed, as Gates suggested a delay would allow time for UN diplomacy to play out.
Gates also said Seoul might seek a Security Council letter denouncing Pyongyang instead of a full-fledged UN resolution.
Such a diplomatic strategy reflected “the worry about provoking further instability and further provocations from the North”, he said on Friday.
