U.S., S. Korean patience running out on N. Korea: S. Korean minister

SINGAPORE, May 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the U.S. are "tired" of warning
North Korea and will not compromise, even though Pyongyang appears to be
preparing to fire a long-range missile after conducting a nuclear test, the
defense minister from Seoul said Saturday.

The comment by Lee Sang-hee came after he held a half-hour meeting with U.S.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the sidelines of an annual Asian security
forum in Singapore.
Speaking to South Korean journalists, Lee said he and Gates agreed that their
patience with North Korean defiance is running out.
"We agreed that we are tired of telling the same stories to North Korea, and that
there is nothing for North Korea to gain from its wrong behavior," he said.
North Korea, which conducted its first atomic test in October 2006, is
threatening war on the Korean Peninsula that remains divided after the 1950-53
Korean War ended in a truce.
It has warned against the safety of South Korean and U.S. vessels traveling near
the Yellow Sea border and fired a series of short-range missiles on its east
coast this week.
Lee said the developments raise tension and pose a "grave threat to regional and
international peace," vowing a tough response should the communist state provoke
a conflict.
"A strong response has been agreed on by the U.S. and South Korea against any
active military provocation," he said.
Government officials in Seoul said North Korea appears to be moving equipment to
ready for the launch of a missile theoretically capable of hitting Alaska and
Hawaii.
The apparent preparations come less than two months after North Korea launched a
rocket that it claims put a satellite into orbit. The U.S. and its allies say
nothing entered space, calling the launch a test of ballistic missile technology.
North Korea is banned from such testing under a U.N. resolution adopted in 2006.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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