South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told ministers and aides to be ready for further “provocation” by North Korea during joint military manoeuvres with the United States that start on Sunday.
“There is the possibility that North Korea may do some unexpected action, so please perfectly prepare against it through cooperation with the Korea-US joint force,” Lee was quoted by a spokesman as saying.
The two Marines were honoured with a gun salute as families wailed and officials saluted the funeral cortege, four days after North Korea rained shells on a tiny island in the heaviest attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 civil war.
Human shield
North Korea, not known for agonising over policy decisions, said that if there were civilian deaths, they were “very regrettable,” but that South Korea should be blamed for using a human shield. It also said United States should be blamed for “orchestrating” the whole sequence of events to justify sending in a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to join the maritime manoeuvres.
Dozens of houses were destroyed in the attack. South Korea responded with artillery fire 13 minutes later, but it was not clear what damage was caused.
“All Marines, including Marines on service and reserve Marines, will avenge the two at any cost, keeping today’s anger and hostility in mind,” said Lieutenant General Yoo Nak Joon, commander of the South Korean Marine Corps.
“We will put our feelings of rage and animosity in our bones and take our revenge on North Korea.”
The funeral was followed by anti-North Korea protests in the capital as a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier headed for the manoeuvres with South Korea, infuriating North Korea and prompting a warning from its only major ally, China.
“It’s time for action. Time for retaliation. Let’s hit the presidential palace in Pyongyang,” shouted close to 1,000 Marine veterans in Seoul who burned photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his successor, son Kim Jung-un.
Former members of the “Underwater Demolition Team,” practised in sabotage, protested against North Korea and against the government for ignoring their sacrifices on spy missions.
China wary
Regional giant China has said it is determined to prevent an escalation of the violence but warned against military acts near its coast as US and South Korean forces prepare for exercises in the Yellow Sea.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi affirmed that Japan and China would work together to try to avoid further tension on the Korean peninsula, Kyodo news agency said. “We hope that China will show strong leadership so that North Korea will not undertake further actions,” Kyodo quoted Maehara as telling Yang.
North Korea’s KCNA news agency said South Korea had formed a human shield around artillery positions and inside military facilities and was to blame for any civilian deaths.
“If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences,” it said.