Following are some of the key events since the crisis began:

Nov 23: Nuclear-armed North Korea fires a barrage of artillery shells on to a South Korean island near their disputed Yellow Sea border in the first such strike since the 1950-1953 war

- Two marines and two civilians are killed and 18 people are wounded in the bombardment of the fishing and garrison island of Yeonpyeong, as residents are sent fleeing

- The attack fuels anxiety about the intentions of the unpredictable communist state, particularly after the disclosure of an apparently operational uranium enrichment plant -- a second potential way of building a nuclear bomb

- Most major powers condemn the North Korean attack, with the noticeable exception of Pyongyang's sole major ally Beijing, which merely voices its "concern" at developments

Nov 24: The United States and South Korea announce plans for four days of war games in the Yellow Sea starting Sunday

- US President Barack Obama telephones South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak telling him Washington stands "shoulder to shoulder" with Seoul

- South Korea suspends shipments of flood aid to the North

- The US-led United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean armistice, calls for talks with North Korea but Pyongyang rejects the request

- The foreign minister of China, which is facing pressure from Seoul, Washington and their allies to rein in Pyongyang, cancels a planned trip to South Korea

- Scores of South Korean protesters burn the North Korean flag and call for revenge

Nov 25: South Korea's defence minister Kim Tae-Young resigns amid strong criticism that the military reacted feebly to the shelling, which followed the sinking of one of Seoul's warships in March blamed on Pyongyang

- Seoul announces it will send more troops and guns to frontline islands in the Yellow Sea and bolster its rules of engagement

- North Korea warns of more strikes if it faces a "reckless military provocation" from the South

Nov 26: North Korea warns that plans for a US-South Korean naval exercise bring the peninsula "closer to the brink of war"

-- Seoul says the North appears to have staged an artillery firing exercise in the Yellow Sea, sending residents of Yeonpyeong rushing into air raid shelters

Nov 27: South Korea vows revenge and a tough line against North Korea over its artillery attack as it holds funerals for the two marines killed in the strike

-- North Korea warns of "unpredictable consequences" if the the United States and South Korea go ahead with naval exercises in the Yellow Sea

Nov 28: North Korea vows a "merciless military counter-attack" against any intrusion into its territorial waters as a major US-South Korean naval exercise begins well south of the border

-- China calls for an emergency meeting in early December of envoys to the six-nation talks on North Korean nuclear disarmament

Nov 29: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak vows to make North Korea "pay the price" for any future provocations

-- North Korea calls the joint US-South Korean naval drill a "grave provocation" and a "crime" which had brought the region to "the brink of war"

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News