20101126 South Korean defense minister resigns

South Korean defense minister resigns

TROOP DEPLOYMENT:Seoul said it would increase the number of troops on islands near North Korea after Tuesday’s bombardment, which caused a sharp spike in tension

REUTERS, YEONPYEONG, SOUTH KOREA

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak accepted the resignation of his defense minister yesterday, two days after an attack by North Korea and amid criticism that the South’s response was too slow.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young had tended his resignation in May after criticism over the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, in March, also blamed on North Korea. Forty-six sailors were killed in the attack.

Lee only accepted the resignation yesterday “to improve the atmosphere in the military and to handle the series of incidents,” a presidential official said.

North Korea fired a barrage of artillery shells at the island of Yeonpyeong off the peninsula’s west coast on Tuesday, killing two civilians and two soldiers and destroying dozens of houses. Members of Lee’s own party and opposition lawmakers accused the military of responding too slowly.

The government was also criticized for its perceived weak response to the Cheonan incident. North Korea has denied responsibility for that attack.

China yesterday expressed muted concern about joint US-South Korean military exercises in the Yellow Sea, while North Korea threatened further attacks on the South if there were more “provocations.”

Seoul said it would increase the number of troops on islands near North Korea after the bombardment, which caused a sharp spike in tension in the world’s fastest growing region.

Washington is putting increasing pressure on China to rein in North Korea, but a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said what was needed was a revival of the stalled six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Russia, China, Japan and the US.

“We have noted the relevant reports and express our concern about this,” spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said, referring to the joint military exercises next week and the involvement of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington in the drill.

Seoul expressed frustration with Beijing for not taking sides, noting even Russia had condemned this week’s attack.

“We must engage with China for it to take more responsibility on North Korea’s behavior,” said a government official, who asked not to be named.

However, a Chinese academic said Beijing’s cautious response to the attack — refusing to ascribe blame and calling on all sides to show restraint — should not be mistaken for approval.

“Of course they [China’s leaders] will be angry, but they are angry in their hearts — not publicly,” said Shi Yinhong (時殷弘), professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

China is the North’s major ally, providing as much as 90 percent of its energy and up to 45 percent of its food on some estimates.

“The Chinese reaction is unhappy, unhappy, unhappy. It damages the economy of the region and this is what matters for China, but they don’t have much leverage,” said Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul. “It has a choice between an unruly North which makes provocations and an unstable North which will collapse. [The former] is clearly the lesser evil.”