US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said today it was in the interests of the international community, including China, to persuade North Korea to change its ways.
She told reporters during a brief visit in the South Korean capital that the crisis brought on by the North's sinking of a South Korean warship required a strong but measured response and said Washington was considering additional options to hold Pyongyang accountable.
"There is the immediate crisis caused by the sinking of the naval vessel which requires a strong but measured response, but there is a longer-term challenge of changing the direction of North Korea."
North Korea last night warned it would close the last road link across its increasing tense border with the South if Seoul goes ahead with a threat to broadcast anti-Pyongyang propaganda into its hermit neighbour.
The mounting antagonism has shaken investors, uncertain how far the two Koreas are ready to take their bitter rivalry after the South accused the North of torpedoing on of its warships.
But after a sharp drop in shares and the local currency yesterday, Seoul's financial markets looked stable and the government said it was ready to step in if things looked to be getting out of control.
"The south Korean puppet war-like forces would be well advised to act with discretion, bearing deep in mind that such measures of the KPA (army) will not end in an empty talk," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted a top official as saying.
China, which almost single-handedly props up the North Korean government and its destitute economy, again called for calm and dialogue.
China's foreign ministry repeated its call for calm and restraint on the Korean peninsula, but refused to be drawn on the sinking of a South Korean ship by a Northern torpedo in March.
Vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun said China had no first-hand information on the sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan in March, which international investigators officially ruled last week was due to a North Korean torpedo.
China was still evaluating the information, he said.
"We have always believed that dialogue is better than confrontation," he said, the day after North Korea said it would cut all ties with the South.
Beijing has refused to give its backing to an international investigation that last week concluded North Korea in March sank the South Korean Cheonan corvette, killing 46 sailors.
China is certain to block attempts to impose new sanctions on its ally which means the United States, which strongly backs Seoul's position over the sinking, may have to accept no more than a carefully worded rap over the knuckles for Pyongyang.
The North yesterday announced it was severing all ties with the South, which has announced its own set of measures against Pyongyang for sinking the Cheonan.
Those include resuming, after a six-year lull, the setting up of speakers near the border to broadcast anti-government propaganda and send messages across by balloon.
So far, though, the reclusive state is allowing South Korean workers to enter a joint industrial park that is a lucrative source of income for the Pyongyang government.
The move suggests the isolated North is being careful not to take steps that will cause it real material damage.
But if it does cut the road link to the Kaesong industrial park, it will be unable to function.
Reuters