News Digest

South Korea fires warning shots after drone crosses border from North

South Korea fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a drone briefly crossed the border from the North. It opened fire as the aircraft was spotted flying dozens of meters south of the border but it turned back after the warning shots. It is the first time shots have been fired in a stand-off between the Koreas in the wake of the North’s nuclear test a week ago. Earlier on Wednesday, South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye urged North Korea’s only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang’s nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions.

Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner. I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role.

President Park Geun-hye

But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula.Responding to the North’s test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end “business as usual” with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff.

Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner.

President Park Geun-hye

Animosity is high after the nuclear test, the North’s fourth. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Ms Park said on Wednesday that South Korea would continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it “the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool”.