US Condemns North Korea

AP is reporting:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House on Tuesday condemned North Korea’s artillery attack against the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, the latest in a series of provocations that have reawakened concerns about the threat posed by the communist country and its reclusive leadership.

In a statement released before dawn, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on North Korea to “to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the armistice agreement,” the 1953 pact that ended the Korean War.

North Korea fired barrages of artillery onto a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least two marines after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

Gibbs said the White House “is in close and continuing contact” with the South Korean government.

“The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability,” he said.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats joined the administration in condemning the attack.

“As the people of the Republic of Korea question what new belligerent action may come from the North, they should not have any question that the people and forces of the United States stand ready as a devoted ally committed to the defense of their nation,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. “I join the president in his strong condemnation of what is sadly just the latest in a long string of hostile actions. North Korea’s neighbors should unite in condemning this attack.”

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., called the artillery attacks “reprehensible” and said it was “in direct violation of the Armistice Agreement.”

“The North Korean regime is more dangerous than most people realize. I join the administration in strongly condemning North Korea for its artillery attack against South Korea,” Skelton said in a statement.

For Obama, the incident continues a preoccupation with national security issues since the Nov. 2 election in which Republicans reclaimed the House of Representatives and also narrowed the Democratic majority in the Senate. He has been struggling to get a vote in the Senate on the New START nuclear weapons treaty with Russia and took a 10-day Asian tour and traveled to a NATO summit last week.

A senior administration official said the president was woken up shortly before 4 a.m. by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who updated the president on the situation. Obama will get further updates during his daily intelligence briefing before heading to Indiana, where he’s scheduled to make remarks on the economy.

None of the more than 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea were involved in the military drills, said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington.