UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon joined the United States on Monday in ratcheting up pressure on North Korea by recommending U.N. Security Council action for a torpedo attack that killed 46 South Korean sailors.
The South Korean U.N. chief called the evidence “overwhelming and deeply troubling” that Pyongyang was responsible for the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan in the Yellow Sea off the west coast.
He urged the 15-nation council, as the U.N.’s most powerful body, to respond to one of South Korea’s worst military disasters since the 1950-53 Korean War. The United States announced Monday it would conduct joint naval exercises with the South Koreans.
“My sincere hope is that this will be dealt with by the Security Council, and they should take necessary measures on this matter,” the U.N. chief said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said earlier Monday that he aimed to strike North Korea financially by cutting trade with the country in desperate need for hard currency.
South Korea has been North Korea’s No. 2 trading partner, behind China, and the measure will cost Pyongyang about $200 million a year, said Lim Eul-Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.
“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again. We did so because we have always had a genuine longing for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said in a solemn speech to the nation from the halls of the country’s War Memorial.
President Barack Obama offered his full support for South Korea’s moves.
Any action by the Security Council may depend on the outcome of negotiations between the U.S. and China, the veto-wielding permanent seat holder on the council that has the most sway over North Korea.
Some “very active consultations have been taking place among key members of the Security Council,” Ban said.
