KELLY OLSEN
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea – Stung by a surprise underwater attack, South Korea flexed its muscles Thursday with anti-submarine drills and a U.S. general offered strong words of support as the allies sent a clear message to adversary North Korea: Don’t try it again.
Pyongyang, however, wasted little time in responding, saying it would launch “immediate physical strikes” against southern ships that enter its waters as tensions spiked further a week after Seoul blamed the North for torpedoing a warship.
Inter-Korean political and economic ties have been steadily deteriorating since the February 2008 inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who vowed a tougher line on the North and its nuclear program. But the sinking of the warship Cheonan and deaths of 46 sailors in March have returned military tensions – and the prospect of armed conflict – to the fore.