Seoul to bolster forces in 5 western islands

By Na Jeong-ju

The South Korean military will overhaul its rules of engagement to respond more actively to provocative acts by North Korea based on lessons learned from Tuesday’s attack on a South Korean island near the western sea border, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday.

This will be the first ever change in combat rules since they were jointly agreed on at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War by U.N. and South Korean forces in line with the Armistice Agreement.

The move reflects concerns that the existing rules are mainly aimed at preventing the situation from escalating in the event of an armed clash with North Korea, making it difficult for commanders to counter military action by the belligerent country more effectively.

The government decided to set up tougher guidelines for counterattacks on assaults against civilians and detailed evacuation plans. The shelling on Yeonpyeong Island, where some 1,700 people reside, killed two civilians and two marines, and wounded 20 other people.

“Attacks on civilians are strictly prohibited even during war. It’s an internationally shared rule,” senior presidential secretary for public relations Hong Sang-pyo told reporters. “But North Korea did it against our civilians. It was an inhumane act.”

Seoul will also bolster its arsenal and install the world’s top-level defense systems near the border in the West Sea as part of measures to reinforce combat capability. The troops on the five nearby islands will be equipped with better and stronger weapons.

The military will also scrap a plan to gradually reduce the number of marines there.

President Lee Myung-bak discussed these measures at an emergency meeting with his security team and economic ministers at Cheong Wa Dae.

“We must share a sense of crisis as North Korea can attack us again at any time. We should be fully prepared for its provocation,” Lee said.

South Korea also plans to engage in active diplomacy with the United States, China and countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula to seek punitive action against Pyongyang for the artillery attack.

A diplomatic source said the country will use “all available communication channels” to seek cooperation from China, the North’s closest ally and biggest aid provider, in pressuring Pyongyang to change its behavior.

Lee has discussed the situation over the phone with U.S. President Barack Obama and other global leaders. He may call Chinese leaders as well.

In a related move, the government will adopt “preemptive” measures, if necessary, to stabilize the local financial market and operate an around-the-clock market monitoring system.

The South will also reinstate its own economic punitive measures against the North that were imposed in May after its deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, according to the presidential office.

Some sources said participants of the meeting also discussed the idea of closing the inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong in North Korea, in which the South has invested 260 billion won ($230 million) since 2003.

It is a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation and a source of cash for the impoverished nation, but has been scaled down in recent years due to North Korea’s nuclear threats and military provocation.

North Korea has demanded the South resume tours to Mt. Geumgang, which had been another cash cow for the North until the South halted them in 2008 following the killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier.