The World and Korea hold their Collective Breath!

 North Korean bombardment of Yeonpyeong island

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has been holding emergency meetings in secure underground bunker and has ordered the airforce to take out North Korean missile bases if there is a repeat of this outrageous provocation.  Countries around the world are advocating calm which is difficult after the North Koreans fired shells at a South Korean Island killing two soldiers and injuring civilians.

Tensions habitually run high between the two but this is the most serious confrontation since 1953 and the end of the Korean War. Relations strained at the best of times were pushed further by the new of the North Korean uranium enrichment facility.
 
In an immediate response to the artillery barrage, Seoul scrambled F-16 fighter jets to the western sea and returned fire.

Korean experts around the world don't believe that either want all-out war but incidents like this are not very  encouraging.  Analysts believe that incidents such as todays could end up with an "accidental" war.

The North, in a short statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, said the South had fired first despite repeated warnings. It threatened more strikes if the South crossed the maritime border by "even 0.001 millimetre".

Naturally the South has denied firing towards the North BUT they have been conducting live-fire exercise which are part of their regular drills.

South Korean officials said two marines were killed in the attack and 17 injured, while three civilians were wounded.

The US president, Barack Obama, who was woken just before 4am by his national security adviser, Tom Donilon, to be informed of the attack, issued a statement condemning it and planned to speak to the South Korean president late today.

A White House spokesman said "North Korea has a pattern of doing things that are provocative. This is a particularly outrageous act." but this was the sum total of the comments coming out of the White House this morning.


In London the British foreign secretary, William Hague, urged Pyongyang to stop further "unprovoked" attacks.

Russia's foreign minister, said there was a "colossal danger" of escalation, and China are sitting on the fence, refraining from apportioning blame. 

Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy on North Korea, was in Beijing at the time. He told reporters he had discussed the clash with the Chinese foreign minister and they agreed both sides should show restraint.
The Pentagon was cautious over applying pressure in the form of sanctions  "It's hard to pile more sanctions upon the North than are already there," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

Han Seung-joo who was a former South Korean foreign minister does not think it will escalate into anything too bad. Han said: "It is not only because it involves civilian casualties, but the deliberateness of the bombardment."But he ad ded: "I don't think it will escalate into anything much more serious."
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Asian Studies Centre, part of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington thinktank, said: "The situation on the peninsula is tense but unlikely to lead to war."

And so the world watches and waits as always when North Korea's has their cage rattled the rest of the world holds its breath.  Lets hope this is just a bit of swagger and sabre rattling - but its an explosive area at the best of times and there is little anyone can do!!