Lee visits military base near inter-Korean sea border

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday visited a marine base near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea, where tension was running high following recent artillery drills by North Korea's military.

The North lobbed hundreds of artillery shells towards the western maritime
border, called Northern Limit Line (NLL), last month after declaring areas north
of the NLL "no-sail" zones. The two Koreas had naval skirmishes in 1999, 2002,
and 2009 in the sea lying between the Korean Peninsula and China.
Lee's aides said that his trip to the Second Marine Corps base in Ganghwa, some
60 kilometers west of Seoul, was to give pep talks to soldiers.
"It is a routine tour by the president ahead of the Lunar New Year's holiday
(Feb. 14), aimed at giving words of cheer to soldiers on duty," Lee Sang-hwi,
head of the presidential office press room, told reporters.
It is the first time the president has visited a marine base since he took office
in early 2008. Previously, he made similar trips to Army and Air Force bases.
Following a luncheon meeting with a group of marines, Lee was also to visit a
tank unit in a nearby town of Gimpo.
South Korea has more than 600,000 troops to confront the North's
1.1-million-strong military. The two sides have yet to sign a formal peace treaty
to replace a cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
In its latest threat, North Korea said it would retaliate against any attempt by
Seoul to "topple its regime," citing an unconfirmed South Korean news report that
the government has drawn up a contingency plan in anticipation of a sudden
collapse of the communist state.
Meanwhile, a national security aide to the South Korean president told Yonhap
News Agency that no unusual military signs have been detected in North Korea
since its firing of the artillery salvos.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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