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SEOUL: South Korea deployed a naval patrol vessel armed with guided missiles close to the volatile maritime border with North Korea as tensions simmered in the wake of Pyongyang's nuclear test.
The move follows reports that the North has stepped up military drills in the area after threatening a military strike on the South and is preparing to test-fire a long-range missile.
The South Korean Navy said it was sending the Yoon Young-ha patrol vessel, equipped with ship-to-ship missiles, to the northwestern border area in the Yellow Sea, the scene of past deadly skirmishes between the two Koreas.
"Compared with North Korean boats, the Yoon Young-ha is armed with overwhelming fire power," a naval spokesman told reporters.
The South Korean navy will "punish immediately" any North Korean forces attempting provocative acts in the area, he said.
North Korea's military has reportedly been using high-speed boats for landing exercises near the western border -- twice the site of naval clashes since 1999.
In the most recent, in 2002, six South Korean sailors died and 18 others were wounded while more than 30 North Koreans were killed or injured. North Korea wants the border to be drawn further south.
Tensions have been running high since Kim Jong-Il's regime tested a nuclear bomb for the second time on May 25 and then launched a series of short-range missiles and renounced the truce that ended the Korean war in 1953.
South Korean and US forces on the peninsula are on heightened alert after the North threatened a possible attack in response to Seoul's decision to join a US-led initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The North has warned of "self-defence measures" in response to any tougher international sanctions, and US and South Korean officials say that it appears to be preparing to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Washington warned North Korea Monday not to fire a long-range missile, saying it would further worsen tensions.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that a launch would be a "clear violation" of a UN Security Council resolution approved after Pyongyang's first nuclear test, in 2006.
Two US defence officials told AFP in Washington that Pyongyang appeared to have moved a long-range missile to its new launch site at Dongchang-ri along its northwestern coast.
But any launch would likely be weeks away given North Korea's technical capacity, said one of the officials, who asked to remain anonymous.
"It'll take a while for North Korea to put anything together," he said.
In April the North fired a Taepodong-2 rocket over Japan from another site on the east coast. It said the launch was to put a satellite in orbit but other nations saw it as a disguised missile test.
South Korean and Southeast Asian leaders Tuesday condemned North Korea's nuclear test as they wrapped up a summit on the southern resort island of Jeju.
President Lee Myung-Bak and the 10 ASEAN leaders in a statement said the test and recent missile launches were "clear violations" of UN Security Council resolutions and a multi-nation nuclear disarmament pact.
Diplomats at the United Nations Security Council are discussing a new resolution which could impose fresh sanctions on the North.
US envoy Susan Rice said there had been progress in talks with her counterparts from Britain, China, France, Russia, Japan and South Korea when they met Monday.
"I think we are making progress and I am hopeful that in due course we will be producing a very worthy and strong resolution," she said.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the seven were hoping that, after consultations with their respective capitals, they would be able to present a compromise text to the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday.
Meanwhile South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday that North Korea seemed to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile from its southeast coast.
The missile is apparently being prepared for launch from a North Korean missile base in Anbyon County, about 100 kilometres northeast of Seoul, Yonhap said.
A South Korean defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report.
- AFP/ir
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