EDITORIAL: North Korea's attack

In what can only be condemned as an act of madness, North Korea on Tuesday fired artillery shells at Daeyeonpyeongdo, a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea west of the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean army returned fire.

Video footage of flames rising from private homes has been seen around the world. South Korean troops and citizens have been killed and injured. Under evacuation orders, islanders have taken refuge in air raid shelters or fled to the South Korean mainland. The South Korean army is on the highest alert.

The attack by North Korea was in blatant violation of the terms of the armistice agreement signed in 1953 to halt the Korean War. The international community, including the United Nations Security Council, must promptly work together to deal with this crisis. The most important thing now is to prevent the situation from spinning out of control.

We strongly urge both Koreas to practice restraint.

Political and military instability has remained on the Korean Peninsula even after the 1953 armistice, and North-South clashes have recurred.

In 1968, South Korean troops clashed with North Korean guerrillas who plotted a raid on the Blue House, the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea. And across the Demilitarized Zone, there have been frequent exchanges of fire.

But unlike on the ground with its clearly defined Demilitarized Zone, there is greater instability in the Yellow Sea.

After the armistice, a United States-led U.N. force drew the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, and this has since served as a de facto border. However, North Korea has never acknowledged the NLL, and has drawn its own line that cuts into South Korean waters.

At the height of blue crab fishing season in summer, North Korean fishing vessels often cross the NLL into South Korean territory, triggering naval exchanges of fire.

But what happened Tuesday was a military offensive against a South Korean island inhabited by many civilians. Such action can never be condoned.

At the time of the attack, South Korean troops were conducting a military exercise in the waters off the island. The North Korean army reported it was "provoked militarily by the South," and justified its action as a "firm military measure" against the exercise.

We must say this was nothing but a self-serving overreaction.

Near the island, a South Korean patrol vessel was sunk this past spring. An international investigation team, made up of American and South Korean representatives among others, determined the vessel was attacked by a North Korean-made torpedo.

And just recently, Pyongyang disclosed its uranium enrichment facility that could be used to advance its nuclear weapons development program.

This year, Pyongyang named Kim Jong Un, the third son of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, as his successor. If Tuesday's shelling of Dayeonpyeongdo was meant to solidify the succession process and add to the authority of the young leader-in-waiting, or if it was a result of some "competition in loyalty" among the military, we must say Pyongyang has taken a most self-righteous and dangerous risk.

The deaths and injuries in the attack must be very difficult for South Korea to take. But we urge Seoul to maintain its stoic stance to prevent Pyongyang from resorting to another provocative act.

Seoul's self-control will certainly win the support of the international community, including Japan and the United States. And China, which has the most influence over North Korea, must act more firmly than ever before to make Pyongyang refrain from further acts of folly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 24