Obama calls for strong response to North Korean attack on island as bodies of two civilians found

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Barack Obama has pledged to hold joint military exercises with South Korea this weekend, after an artillery bombardment from North Korea killed two soldiers and two civilians yesterday.

The president reiterated in a telephone call to his counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, that the US would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its ally. The White House announced last night that the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and other warships would join South Korean naval forces in the western sea on Sunday.

Media in Seoul reported that the US had been due to take part in the training but postponed involvement, citing scheduling conflicts.

The announcement that joint exercises will go ahead is a clear expression of American anger at yesterday's attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, but also a sign of its limited ability to respond without escalating the crisis.

"This exercise is defensive in nature," US Forces Korea said in a statement. "While planned well before yesterday's unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK [South Korea]-US alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."

The two countries held similar exercises in July after the sinking of a South Korean naval ship, in which 46 sailors died. The announcement provoked a furious reaction from Pyongyang, but the drills went ahead uneventfully.

"The North Koreans see [the joint exercise] as an offensive move however many times it happens," warned Professor Hazel Smith of Cranfield University, who argued that yesterday's attack illustrated the military's dominance in North Korea.

"We are in uncharted waters…Under Kim Il-sung, the military were controlled by civil power. That is not the case in Kim Jong-il's North Korea."

Smith added: "This is a highly dangerous situation unless people start getting involved in negotiations.

"The US state department says 'We do not reward bad behaviour'… Diplomacy is all about engaging with people whose interests and values you do not share to get a peaceful resolution to conflicts."

The gravity of yesterday's attack was underscored by the discovery of the burnt bodies of two civilians who were killed in the bombardment.

"Two people aged in their 60s were found dead allegedly as a result of yesterday's shelling," said a police spokesman in the nearby port of Incheon.

The South Korean coastguard service said the two men were construction workers. Two soldiers died in the attack and several people were injured, including civilians. In a television interview last night Obama spoke of the need for China's support and pressed for a strong response.

"We strongly condemn the attack and we are rallying the international community to put pressure on North Korea," he told ABC, adding that every country in the region must know "this is a serious and ongoing threat".

Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy to North Korea, called during a visit to Beijing on all members of the international community to condemn North Korea's acts and to make clear that they expect it "to cease all provocations and implement its denuclearisation commitments".

The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, urged China, North Korea's main ally, to help restrain its neighbour.

Despite Beijing's frequent frustration with Pyongyang, it is concerned about instability in the North and the prospect of a unified Korea dominated by the US. A foreign ministry spokesman yesterday urged both sides to "do more to contribute to peace and stability in the region".

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called yesterday's attack on Yeonpyeong island, 75 miles west of Seoul, one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean war in 1953.

International concern was already running high after reports that North Korea has developed a new uranium enrichment facility which would give it a source of material for nuclear bombs. Many analysts believe that the attack was intended to grab US attention and skew the ground for negotiations over denuclearisation in favour of Pyongyang.

North Korea said the South had ignored repeated warnings not to hold military exercises in the area and began the firing. South Korea was holding live-fire drills yesterday but said it was not firing towards the North.

While Obama said he was outraged, and Lee warned of "stern retaliation", the US and South Korea were both careful to avoid immediate threats of retaliation which might escalate the conflict. The US has not repositioned its 29,000 troops in the South.

Obama is expected to phone the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, over the next few days to discuss the shelling and ask him to exercise its influence over North Korea.

The US-led United Nations command said it had asked North Korea for high-level military talks "to de-escalate the situation".

General Walter Sharp, who leads the UN command and US forces in South Korea, warned that the North's actions were "threatening the peace and stability of the entire region".

Lin Chong-pin, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taipei, said: "It's Mr Kim's old game to get some attention and some economic goodies … I think Washington and Beijing will co-operate on this. It's Japan that's nervous."

Others believe the attack may have been intended to consolidate the position of North Korea's newly anointed heir apparent, Kim Jong-un.

South Korea sent two ships carrying 2,000 boxes of relief supplies to Yeonpyeong today, a coastguard official, Kim Dong-jin, said. Several of the island's 1,600 civilian inhabitants fled yesterday, and Kim said another 340 would arrive in the port of Incheon on a coastguard ship this afternoon.

Images released by the local government showed people huddled in emergency shelters and rows of destroyed houses with collapsed walls, blown out windows and charred roofs.

The South Korean defence minister, Kim Tae-young, said the military would dispatch reinforcements to five islands near the disputed maritime border.

The unification ministry in Seoul also said it was suspending aid shipments to North Korea of cement and medicine worth 580m won (£320,000) and had ordered civic groups not to deliver another aid package worth 2.7bn won (£1.5m).