Lee responding calmly to N. Korea artillery firing: aides

By Lee Chi-dong
ZURICH, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, on a trip to
Switzerland, has been receiving the up-to-date reports from Seoul on North
Korea's provocative firing near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow
Sea, his aides said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the North resumed lobbing artillery shells toward a South
Korean island in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and China after declaring
the island and nearby areas a "no-sail" zone. North Korea fired about 100
artillery rounds on Wednesday, and the South Korean military reacted with warning
shots, heightening tension on the peninsula that is still technically at war, as
their 1950-53 war ended in a cease-fire, not a formal peace treaty. The North's
intentions behind the provocative acts remain unconfirmed.
"President Lee received a report on the situation immediately after North Korea's
action on Wednesday," Kim Eun-hye, spokesperson at the presidential office, said.
Lee was visiting India at that time and flew into Zurich Wednesday.
Kim added the president is being constantly updated on the North's moves, but
"there are no comments" that have been made by him yet.
Another presidential secretary, accompanying Lee, said on condition of anonymity
that the president's basic stance against North Korea's provocations is to "react
in a calm and cool-headed manner."
Lee has no plan to make any remarks on North Korea in his special address at the
Davos Forum later in the day. He will focus on his vision for the G-20 economic
summit as the leader of the country to chair this year's session, according to
the official.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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