SEOUL, South Korea — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the world must respond to the “unacceptable provocation” represented by the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, as the regime unleashed more blistering rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.
Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has risen sharply since international investigators said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine sank the South Korean warship Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 sailors.
Relations are at their lowest point in a decade. South Korea, backed by the U.S., Japan and other allies, began implementing a package of punitive measures against the North on Tuesday — including slashing trade, resuming propaganda warfare and barring the North’s cargo ships.
“This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea, and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond,” Clinton told reporters in Seoul, the final leg of a three-nation Asian tour.
Later Wednesday, North Korea again called the investigation results a “fabrication” and accused President Barack Obama’s administration of being behind a plot to pinpoint the North as the culprit to bolster its military presence in the region.
On Wednesday, the North cut off some cross- border communication links and expelled eight South Korean government officials from a joint factory park in the North Korean city of Kaesong.
The North’s military also issued a statement warning it would “totally ban” the passage of South Korean personnel and vehicles to Kaesong if Seoul does not stop psychological warfare operations. It also said it would “blow up” any propaganda loudspeakers South Korea installs at the border.
South Korea’s military said there were no signs of unusual activity by North Korean troops. The North and South have technically remained at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
South Korea wants to bring North Korea before the U.N. Security Council over the sinking and has U.S. support, but key North Korean ally China has said it is still weighing evidence and has done little but urge calm on all sides.
Senior U.S. officials speaking after strategic talks this week in Beijing predicted that China will gradually endorse the view that North Korea should be held accountable for the alleged torpedo attack.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is setting aside the traditional impartiality of his post to push for sanctioning North Korea.
