Not up to U.S. to respond to North Korea attack says Gates

It is not up to the U.S. to respond to an attack by North Korea on a South Korean navy ship. It is up to South Korea to deal with the matter, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday. Gates was responding to a question posed by reporters at a Pentagon news conference whether South Korea's determination that North Korea had sunk the South Korean frigate Cheonan, killing 46 sailors on March 26th, was an act of war. “This was an attack on South Korea, and South Korea needs to be in the lead on the way forward,” the defense secretary said. Gates said the U.S. Defense Department supported the conclusions of a multilateral investigation into the attack that found a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the ship. “They’ve laid out some paths forward, and we will be consulting closely with them as they move forward,” he said referring to the South Korean military. The U.S. military has not taken any preparations in light of the findings, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the news conference. Mullen said he spoke with his South Korean counterpart a day earlier, as well as with Navy Adm. Robert Willard, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and Army Gen. Walter “Skip” Sharp, commander of U.S. Forces Korea. “We’re all focused on the stability of that region,” Mullen said. “Certainly, we’re concerned. They (South Korea) are a great friend and a great ally.” Asked if U.S. forces are stretched too thin to increase operations in the area if needed, Gates said “absolutely not.” “We’ve known for a long time that if there were problems in Korea, our main arms would be the Navy and the Air Force, and they are not stretched the way the Army and Marines are.” Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington "strongly condemns" North Korea's sinking of the South Korean naval ship and called for an international response.