By Na Jeong-ju
Staff reporter
South Korea is engaging in active diplomacy with the countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula to deal with the aftermath of the sinking of the Navy vessel Cheonan as investigators have concluded that North Korea was behind the disaster.
The military is expected to present hard evidence of a torpedo attack at a press conference today and call for international cooperation to punish the Stalinist nation.
Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States will meet in Seoul on May 26 to discuss a joint response.
Seoul's plan to take the case to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) for economic and diplomatic sanctions against Pyongyang, and ways to boost defense alliance between Seoul and Washington are expected to be high on the agenda at the meeting between Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officials here said.
Clinton will visit Seoul on her way back home from Beijing, where she will attend the annual strategic dialogue May 24 to 25 along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Before flying to China, she will visit Tokyo Friday.
President Lee Myung-bak plans to call the leaders of the countries involved in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program to share the outcome of the investigation and urge their backing for a joint action.
Lee already spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Wednesday. They expressed their full support for South Korea and pledged to deal sternly with any acts of aggression by the communist country.
``We will be talking to South Korea about that issue, I would expect,'' State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Tuesday, asked if Washington supports Seoul's plan to refer the alleged attack on the ship to the UNSC.
``We will be talking to China and Japan and Korea, in light of the anticipated results of the Cheonan investigation. We'll collectively chart a path forward.''
The biggest stumbling block in seeking international sanctions could be China, North Korea's closest ally and one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UNSC.
On Monday, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xinsen called on Seoul to refrain from escalating tensions without concrete evidence, saying it could undermine the resumption of the nuclear talks. Pyongyang has insisted it has nothing to do with the ship sinking.
Secretary Clinton will make another visit to Seoul in July along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates for the first-ever two plus two security talks with their South Korean counterparts.
The two allies also agreed on a bilateral summit between Lee and Obama in late June on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Toronto, Canada.
Sources from Cheong Wa Dae said the conservative leader will speak to the nation early next week about the Cheonan incident.