SINGAPORE: The United States demanded North Korea pay a price for allegedly sinking a South Korean warship even as Washington and its Asian allies brace for possible “provocations” by the Pyongyang regime. In a show of solidarity, US, Japanese and South Korean defence chiefs met in Singapore to discuss punitive steps against North Korea as the UN Security Council prepares to take up the crisis triggered by the sinking of the Cheonan. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his counterparts that “it’s important we have a unified front to deter further provocations,” his press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters. While condemning North Korea’s alleged torpedo attack, which left 46 South Korean sailors dead, Washington and Seoul have called for calm and avoided talk of a military response. But given the North’s volatile reputation, the United States and its allies have to be prepared for possible violence, Morrell said. “When you’re dealing with a regime as unpredictable as (North Korea), that’s always a concern,” he said. Tensions have soared on the peninsula since a multinational probe last month concluded a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan, triggering trade reprisals by South Korea and threats of war by the communist North. In a speech to the security conference in Singapore, Gates said the US administration was looking at “additional options” against the North, apart from UN diplomacy and planned military exercises with South Korea.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in South Korea as the North cuts ties after being blamed for sinking a Southern warship.North Korea said it was severing all ties and banning South Korean ships and planes from its territory.
South Korea announced earlier it was suspending trade links with the North.
It is seeking a strong international response to the sinking of its ship, the Cheonan, which was torpedoed on 26 March with the loss of 46 sailors.
The South Korean government will be eager to hear the details of two days of discussions Mrs Clinton had in Beijing with her Chinese counterparts, the BBC's John Sudworth reports from Seoul.
America has lent its full weight to the conclusions of an international team of experts that last week produced what it called "overwhelming" proof that the warship was hit by a North Korean torpedo.
The US secretary of state has been pressing China to join the international condemnation but Beijing is taking a cautious line, calling for restraint, our correspondent says.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said on Wednesday his country was still evaluating information on the sinking of the Cheonan.
"We have always believed that dialogue is better than confrontation," he added.
Mrs Clinton, nearing the end of her Asian tour, left Beijing for Seoul on Wednesday morning.
Earlier, the North said it would match Southern sanctions with its own, and sever the few remaining lines of communication between the two governments.
South Korean ships and planes would be banned from Northern territorial waters and airspace.
All South Korean workers in the jointly run Kaesong industrial park north of the border were expected to be expelled although they were allowed to enter on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reports.
Apart from Kaesong, there is little economic relationship left between the two states, their ties almost frozen since Lee Myung-bak took office in 2008, the agency notes.
"North Korea is not closing up Kaesong immediately because it is saving the cards it needs in order to play the game," said Jang Cheol-hyeon, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy.
The two states are technically still at war after the Korean conflict ended without an armistice in 1953.
South Korean K1 tanks could be seen on Tuesday conducting an exercise to prepare for a possible surprise attack by North Korea.
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