Tensions Escalate Between the 2 Koreas.

[elleng]

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Tuesday it would join an American-led operation to stop the global trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, an action bound to further damage the South’s already deteriorating relationship with North Korea.

South Korea’s long-delayed participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative, or P.S.I., came a day after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on Monday. The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the test, calling it a “clear violation” of an earlier council resolution, and vowed to craft a new resolution that could impose further sanctions on the increasingly isolated North.

On Tuesday, North Korea remained defiant, declaring that it was “fully ready for battle” against the United States. Its main party newspaper, Rodong, accused President Obama of “following in the footsteps of the previous Bush administration’s reckless policy of militarily stifling North Korea.”

Pyongyang has declared a no-sailing zone off its west coast, indicating that its military might test-fire missiles as early as Tuesday, according to the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, quoting unidentified government sources.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/world/asia/27korea.html?th&emc=th