Clinton calls for urgent action against Pyongyang

"This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond," US Secretary of State Clinton told reporters in the South Korean capital on Wednesday, before returning to the US.

On a brief visit to Seoul for talks with her South Korean counterpart Yun Myung Hwan and President Lee Myung-bak, the secretary of state said that the North should put a stop to its "policy of threats and belligerence."

Last week, an international investigation into the destruction of a South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, which resulted in the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors, concluded that a North Korean torpedo, which had been fired by a submarine, was responsible for the attack.

"We have always tolerated North Korea's brutality, time and again. We did so because we have always had a genuine longing for peace on the Korean peninsula but now things are different. North Korea will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said.

Pyongyang denies allegations

North Korea has denied any involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship. It has threatened to cut off all ties with South Korea in retaliation to any punitive measures or sanctions.

It has also threatened to block production at a jointly-run industrial park in Kaesong, on the North Korean side of the border, where about 800 South Koreans are employed. Southern companies employ over 42,000 North Korean workers there. Pyongyang ordered eight South Korean officials to leave the complex on Wednesday and threatened to block cross-border traffic.

US might consider own action

The US supports South Korea's move to bring the matter before the UN Security Council but it is not clear whether veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China, which both have friendly ties with North Korea, would support harsh council action against Pyongyang. China has so far only urged restraint on all sides.

Clinton reportedly told South Korean leaders that the US would consider its own action "to hold North Korea and its leaders accountable" but did not give any more details on what this might entail.

There is speculation that sanctions and measures that cut off Pyongyang's access to the international financial system could be reinstated. These were originally lifted in order to encourage Pyongyang to come back to six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament.

act /dpa/AP/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Disha Uppal