Aerial view of Yeonpyeong island damage

North Korea: A Secretive StateHard choices for South Korea
China's muted response
Q&A: Inter-Korean crisis
North Korea firing: Why now?
China should use its influence over North Korea to defuse the crisis sparked by the North's shelling of a Southern island, US officials say.

State department spokesman PJ Crowley said Beijing's role was pivotal and urged Beijing to be clear on the issue.

China is the only nation with influence in the North but Beijing has so far issued statements urging restraint and has refused to blame the North.

Two South Korean civilians and two marines died in Tuesday's shelling.

The burnt bodies of two men in their 60s were found on Wednesday on the island, which lies near the disputed Yellow Sea border.

The latest TV pictures of the island show neighbourhoods reduced to rubble with shops and homes burnt and destroyed.

Continue reading the main story
NORTH KOREAN ATTACKS
Jan 1967 - attacks South Korean warship near border, killing 39 sailors
Jan 1968 - commandos storm presidential palace in Seoul in a failed attempt to kill President Park Chung-hee
Jan 1968 - captures USS Pueblo - one crew member dies and 82 held hostage for 11 months
Dec 1969 - hijacks South Korean airliner taking dozens of passengers hostage
Oct 1983 - bombs hotel in Rangoon, Burma, in failed attempt to kill South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan - 21 people die
Nov 1987 - bombs South Korean airliner, killing 115
Mar 2010 - torpedoes Cheonan warship, 46 sailors killed. N Korea denies responsibility
How the ship was sunk
The US, which is due to hold joint military drills with the South from this Sunday, urged China to take a tougher stance with its ally.

"China does have influence with North Korea and we would hope and expect that China will use that influence," said Mr Crowley.

"First to reduce tensions that have arisen as a result of North Korean provocations and then secondly [to] continue to encourage North Korea to take affirmative steps to denuclearise."

Mr Crowley described the shelling as a "one-off, premeditated act" and said the US did not think Pyongyang was preparing for an extended military confrontation.

Japanese officials have also encouraged China to take the lead with Pyongyang.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said they "regret the casualties and property losses, and are concerned about the situation".

"We strongly urge both sides retain calm and restraint and engage in talks as quickly as possible in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again," Mr Hong said in a statement carried by state-run Xinhua news agency.

At least 18 people were injured in Tuesday's attack.

Hundreds have since fled the island, taking ferries to the mainland where they described what happened.

"I heard the sound of artillery and I felt that something was flying over my head," said Lim Jung-eun, a 36-year-old housewife who fled the island with her three children. "Then the mountain caught on fire."

I just hope it never gets to full blown conflict.

South Korean defence minister resigns over deadly clash

The BBC's Chris Hogg says North Korea is warning of more attacks

North Korea: A Secretive StateWhy border hot-spot is war relic
US resorts to carrier diplomacy
Hard choices for South Korea
China's muted response
South Korea's defence minister has resigned amid criticism of his handling of North Korea's shelling of an island near their disputed maritime border.

President Lee Myung-bak will name Kim Tae-young's successor on Friday.

Tuesday's barrage left two South Korean civilians and two marines dead, and sent regional tensions soaring.

South Korea has increased troop numbers on Yeonpyeong and other nearby islands, and announced more rigorous rules of engagement for future incidents.

Mr Kim had been urged to step down by legislators from both governing and opposition parties over his handling of the shelling.

In his resignation statement, the minister said he took full responsibility.



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South Korean officials described Tuesday's attack as "surprising and shocking".

"We couldn't have imagined they would carry out this kind of grave provocation," one senior government source told me.

The South Korean rules of engagement called for a sufficient but proportionate response to an attack from their northern neighbour. But that was not enough of a deterrent.

So now they have a simple message for Pyongyang - in the face of any kind of further provocation, however unimaginable, South Korea will now not hesitate to use "all kind of measures".

"If we give this signal to North Korea they will have to think for more time before they make their judgement [to launch a further attack]," the official said.

The new defensive posture should be more flexible and more unpredictable, but it could create extra risk that any future attack could more easily escalate into something far worse.
More powerful response

The government also said it was changing its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully to similar incidents. The old rules have been criticised as too passive.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Seoul says the cabinet had decided that under the old rules of engagement there was too much emphasis on preventing a military incident escalating into something worse.

In future, the South would implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets, a presidential spokesman said.

A senior government official told the BBC that Seoul wanted to be more flexible in order to keep the North Koreans guessing as to their response.

The South Korean broadcaster, KBS, said the new rules called for the South to fire back "with shots two to three times more powerful than the enemy artillery".

North Korea meanwhile threatened further military action if the South continued on its "path of military provocation", the official KCNA news agency reported.

Pyongyang has blamed Seoul for this week's incident on Yeonpyeong, insisting it did not fire first. The South was holding military exercises in the area at the time, and returned fire when the North's shells began to land.

Continue reading the main story
North Korea: Timeline 2010
26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors

20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement

July-September: South Korea and US hold military exercises; US places more sanctions on Pyongyang

29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move

29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border

12 November: North Korea shows US scientist new - undeclared - uranium enrichment facility

In pictures: Korean shelling
China's muted response
Possible triggers for attack
The North also accused the United States of stoking tensions - saying it helped draw up the "illegal" western maritime border between the two Koreas.

About 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea.

Naval exercises

The clash was one of the worst incidents between the two Koreas, who remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.

The US and South Korean militaries are to hold joint naval exercises, which will include US aircraft carrier USS George Washington, south of Yeonpyeong in the coming days.

The Chinese foreign ministry has expressed "concern" over the exercises.

"We oppose any act that undermines peace and stability on the peninsula," it said.

Beijing, Pyongyang's main ally, has been under pressure to use its influence to ease tensions.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is in Moscow, earlier described the situation on the peninsula as "grim and complicated".

Mr Wen repeated his view that the six-party talks on the North's nuclear programme should be resumed as soon as possible, a position shared by Pyongyang.

South Korea, the US and Japan have said the negotiations should not restart until the North stops uranium enrichment work and apologises for its alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors.

A visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to South Korea, which had been due on Friday, has also been postponed. The delay was put down to "scheduling" issues.

South Korea's rules of engagement



Old rules
Source: KBS

Action
Damage
Response

Shots fired
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast three times. If more shots fired, shoot back. If no more shots fired, situation concluded


Crossing of NLL
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast - blockade - destruction

Any action
Forces harmed
No warning, return fire in self defence. Destroy artillery bases if necessary

New rules
Action
Damage
Response

Shots fired
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast and return fire with shots two to three times more powerful to reach same distance north of NLL


Crossing NLL
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast - blockade - destruction

Any action
Forces harmed
No warning, return fire in self defence. Destroy artillery bases if necessary

This is more news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11838750



Ah well time will tell what will happen here. Maybe China will use some influence to negotiate some kind of truce, but will North Korea listen?

North Korea 'will not hit back' over Yeonpyeong drills The threat of a North Korean response has caused anxiety in the South.
Inside North KoreaVolunteers bolster S Korean army
Why border hot-spot is war relic
Rare peek into China-N Korea ties
Alliance under strain
North Korea says it will not retaliate despite "reckless provocations" from the South, which held live-fire drills on the flashpoint island of Yeonpyeong.

The North shelled the island last month after similar drills and had threatened more retaliation this time.

But state media quoted the army as saying it was "not worth reacting".

Meanwhile US politician Bill Richardson, on a visit to the North, says it has agreed to allow UN inspectors back into the country.

The New Mexico governor, who is in Pyongyang in an unofficial capacity, said he had been told during meetings that members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be allowed renewed access to a uranium enrichment facility.

There has been no official comment from the North, and it is unclear which facility Mr Richardson was referring to.

Inspectors, who had been monitoring the Yongbyon nuclear plant, were expelled from the country in April 2009.

UN Security Council talks on North Korea ended without a deal at the weekend, reportedly after China refused to agree to a statement critical of its ally.

The South's government has been under huge domestic pressure to take a tough stance towards Pyongyang, in the wake of the 23 November shelling of Yeonpyeong, which killed four people.

'Make dialogue, not war'

The South ordered residents of Yeonpyeong and several other islands to take cover in air-raid shelters early on Monday.

Witnesses said the ground shook from the force of the artillery barrages during 90 minutes of firing.

South Koreans feared a military response from the North, but state news agency KCNA reported that the military was not planning any retaliation.

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK [North Korea] did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation," KCNA quoted the the army's Supreme Command as saying.

"The world should properly know who is the true champion of peace and who is the real provocateur of a war."


North Korea: Timeline 2010
26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors

20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement

29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move

29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border

23 November: North shells island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four South Koreans

In pictures: Day of tension
Brief history of the Korean War
Profile: Bill Richardson
South Korean military spokesman Lee Bung-woo confirmed that no fire had come from the North's side.

"During the exercise, the North Korean military strengthened vigilance and maintained preparedness, but did not make any additional provocations," he said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"Our military will continue to keep firm military preparedness to defend the north-western islands and safeguard our sovereignty."

After the drill, China urged both sides to avoid armed confrontation.

"Whatever the differences and disputes relevant parties may have, they can only be addressed through dialogue and negotiation rather than by conflict or war," said foreign ministry official Cui Tiankai.

Russia also renewed its calls for both sides to show restraint.

The US has backed the South's right to carry out the exercises, and a small contingent of American personnel was helping with the drills.

Southern officials have insisted that the artillery guns on Yeonpyeong were aimed south-west, away from North Korea.

But the North claims that any ammunition fired inevitably lands in its territorial waters.

'Progress'

The North's retaliation last month was the first time it had shelled civilian areas since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Yeonpyeong is close to the two countries' sea border, the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn up at the end of the war, but is disputed by the North.

Mr Richardson told CNN that he had held "very tough" talks with Maj Gen Pak Rim-su, who leads North Korean forces along the border with the South. He said he was confident progress had been made.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says the US is walking a diplomatic tightrope, as there are 28,000 American troops stationed in the South, and they would almost certainly be drawn in if hostilities erupt

The island is normally home to some 1,300 residents along with hundreds of marines, but most civilians have fled to the mainland, leaving only about 100 remaining, Yonhap said.