Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 7543862" data-attributes="member: 92282">US and Japanese defense chiefs on Tuesday vowed "unified support" for  South Korea in an escalating dispute with North Korea over the sinking  one of Seoul's warships, a Pentagon spokesman said.Defense  Secretary Robert Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa  "pledged unified support for the Republic of Korea" in talks in the US  capital, and planned to meet with their South Korean counterpart at a  conference in Singapore in June, press secretary Geoff Morrell said."Secretary  Gates thanked Minister Kitazawa for the Japanese government's strong  response to North Korea's latest provocative actions," Morrell said in a  statement after the meeting.Amid mounting tensions in the  region, North Korea said Tuesday it was cutting all ties to Seoul in  protest over charges it torpedoed a South Korean warship.The  North said South Korea's claims that it had sunk the warship were  tantamount to a declaration of war.A multinational investigation  team has said there was overwhelming evidence that a North Korean  submarine sunk the South Korean corvette on March 26 with the loss of 46  lives.Gates and Kitazawa also discussed controversial plans to  relocate a US air base within Okinawa island.Japan's Prime  Minister Yukio Hatoyama has come under severe criticism at home after  backtracking on a pledge to move the base off the island.AFP</blockquote>

Top Bottom