Scherpe kritiek Ashton op Noord-Korea na aanval (en) - Hoofdinhoud
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton i has sharply criticised North Korea's attack on a South Korean island on Tuesday (23 November), which raised tensions between the two sides to a level analysts say have not been seen since the 1950s.
Mid-afternoon, Ms Ashton said she was "deeply concerned" by the situation on the Korean penninsula. Early this morning, North Korea's military fired dozens of artillery shells at the island of Yeonpyeong, some 12 kilometres from the North's coastline, on the disputed Yellow Sea border.
"I strongly condemn this attack by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. I call on the North Korean authorities to refrain from any action that risks further escalation and to fully respect the Korean Armistice Agreement," she said in a statement.
"I welcome a call for restraint by [South Korean] President Lee Myung-bak. We are monitoring developments closely."
"I would like to underline that peace and stability on the Korean peninsula remains essential for the region and the wider world."
The attack reportedly killed two marines when around 50 shells landed on the island around 2:30pm local time (5:30am GMT) home to a South Korean military base. A further 16 South Korean marines and three civilians were injured.
Seoul placed the country on its highest non-wartime alert and announced that it had returned fire, launching 80 shells of its own and deploying fighter jets to the region.
The Yonhap news agency is reporting that the island's entire 1,600-strong population has been evacuated.
Pyongyang for its part said that South Korea had been the first belligerent.
"The South Korean enemy, despite our repeated warnings, committed reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory," declared the North's military command, according to the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. "It is our military's traditional response to quell provocative actions with a merciless thunderbolt."
South Korea's military said that it had indeed been conducting exercises but that no shelling had targetted the North. Seoul also condemned the attack on civilians, saying that it was in breach of the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
South Korea would "sternly retaliate against any further provocations," warned President Lee Myung-bak in a statement. "North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong island constitutes a clear armed provocation. Furthermore, its reckless shelling of civilian targets is unpardonable."
The US called on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action," while Russia made similar pronouncements, although Pyongyang's ally, China, called on both sides to "do more to contribute to peace."
The UN Security Council is likely to hold an emergency session on Tuesday or Wednesday in response to the events.
The clashes follow on from the sinking of a South Korean warship in March this year. A later investigation by the South suggested its Stalinist autarkic cousin was responsible.
But the targetting of civilians and the killing of soldiers rather than just sailors is an escalation for the North, say analysts.
"It's alarming the they actually killed South Korean soldiers," Joans Parello-Plesner, an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Affairs told EUobserver.
He noted that the island shelling follows on from similar clashes in the same disputed region in 1990 and 2002, "including clashes between crab fishermen."
However, "There will be no war. The South Korean president is trying to calm and stabilise the situation. A conventional war against the North is not an option. The South has so much more to lose, while the Norht has built its whole system upon preparing for war."
"They have a G20 i economy that they have to protect."
As the EU is not involved in the six-party talks between North Korea, South Korea, the US, China, Russia, and Japan, "I have little conviction that Pyongyang will hear any message from the EU," he said.
"However, where the EU does have a role to play is in its relationship with China," he continued. "There, the EU can push Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang, but this is about all Europe can do."
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