S Korea boosts defences as North warns of more strikes

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YEONPYEONG ISLAND (South Korea), Nov 25 (AFP): South Korea vowed Thursday to dramatically boost its defences against rival North Korea as the nuclear-armed regime threatened more strikes if it faced a "reckless military provocation".
Pyongyang's fresh warning came as a US aircraft carrier headed for the tense peninsula to join war games to be staged as show of force to the unpredictable communist state but which have angered its main ally Beijing.
The war of words played out as rescuers sifted through the rubble of the remote border island where North Korea's fiery assault of rockets and missiles claimed four lives, injured 18 more people and turned homes into charred ruins.
Tuesday's attack has provoked the worst crisis on the peninsula in decades, with the international community agonising over how to respond while South Korea and the United States pressed China to try to rein in its neighbour.
On Yeonpyeong island, grim-faced South Korean soldiers were trudging through broken glass, debris and the blackened wreckage of homes destroyed in the first shelling of a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean war.
Authorities were moving to evacuate most of the remaining residents of the quiet fishing outpost after most of the terrified islanders fled soon after the surprise bombardment sent black columns of acrid smoke into the sky.
Stung by media criticism over what is being seen as a weak response, South Korea said "the existing rules of engagement, which are seen as being rather passive, will be completely revised" in a way that "reflect a paradigm shift in responding to North Korea's provocations".
The military will reinforce ground forces, especially on border islands, and set different levels of counter-attack "depending on whether attacks are targeted against civilians or the military", the presidential office said.
World powers are struggling to draw up a response to the latest actions by a regime that has in recent years launched two nuclear tests, fired missiles over Japan and is blamed for sinking a South Korean naval ship the Cheonan in March.
Many observers believe the attack was meant to highlight the military credentials of the leader-in-waiting-Kim's little-known 27-year-old son Kim Jong-Un, who two months ago took powerful military and political posts.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with ally South Korea, where 28,500 American troops are stationed.
But in the tense standoff, the United States and its allies face few appealing choices, analysts say-resuming talks, which could be seen as rewarding aggression; easing the tone and risking further provocation; or toughening its position at the risk of sparking a full-blown war.
"This is the land of lousy options... You can choose between bad, worse and the worst," former diplomat Victor Cha told a group of fellow analysts.
Complicating the conundrum is the fact that China-a veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council member-has refrained from strongly criticising its small communist neighbour over the attacks.
Instead, China's foreign ministry expressed "concern" over plans for joint US-South Korean military exercises, saying: "We oppose any act that undermines peace and stability on the peninsula."
SKorea's defense chief
resigns over NKorea attack
YEONPYEONG ISLAND (South Korea), Nov 25 (AFP): South Korea's defense minister resigned Thursday amid intense criticism two days after a North Korean artillery attack killed four people on a small island near the Koreas' disputed frontier.
The move came as President Lee Myung-bak vowed to send more troops to the front-line island and as residents tried to salvage belongings from the blackened wreckage of their homes. Pyongyang warned of additional attacks if provoked.