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UPDATE: Tue. 05/25 By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 36 mins ago NKorea cuts ties with South, raises war rhetoric! “SEOUL, South Korea – Relations on the divided Korean peninsula plunged to their lowest point in a decade Tuesday when the North declared it was cutting all ties to Seoul as punishment for blaming the communists for the sinking of a South Korean warship. The announcement came a day after South Korea took steps that were seen as among the strongest it could take short of military action. Seoul said it would slash trade with the North and deny permission to its cargo ships to pass through South Korean waters. It also resumed a propaganda offensive — including blaring Western music into the North and dropping leaflets by balloon. North Korea said it was cutting all ties with the South until President Lee Myung-bak leaves office in early 2013, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch monitored in Seoul late Tuesday. The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification said it would expel all South Korean government officials working at a joint industrial park in the northern border town of Kaesong, and South Korean ships and airliners would be banned from passing through its territory. The North's committee said it would start “all-out counterattacks” against the South's psychological warfare, and called its moves “the first phase” of punitive measures against Seoul, suggesting more action could follow.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_ship_sinks ————————————————————————————————————– WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday announced plans for two major military exercises off the Korean peninsula in a show of force aimed at North Korea, which has been blamed by investigators for a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship. The White House called U.S. support for South Korea “unequivocal” and said in a statement that President Obama had directed military commanders to work with the South “to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression.” North Korean leaders have denied responsibility and warned against any retaliation, but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday blamed the North for the crisis. “We are working hard to avoid an escalation of belligerence and provocation,” Clinton told reporters in Beijing, where she was to press China to support diplomatic action against its neighbor and ally, North Korea. “This is a highly precarious situation that the North Koreans have caused in the region.” U.S. officials hope a united international response, coupled with a display of military might, will deter North Korea's neo-Stalinist regime from ratcheting up tensions. An international team of investigators last week blamed the North for the March 26 sinking of the South Korean corvette, the Cheonan. Forty-six South Koreans died aboard the ship, which investigators say was ripped in two by a torpedo. The sinking was South Korea's worst military disaster since the Korean War, which started 60 years ago and ended in a cease-fire in 1953. But no formal peace treaty was ever signed, and more than 28,000 U.S. troops remain stationed in the south, a critical regional ally. Until Monday, the Obama administration had been intentionally vague on how it might respond to the report blaming North Korea for the attack, out of a reluctance to stoke tensions. But on Tuesday, the Obama administration shifted gears, taking its cue from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who announced Monday that he would cut all trade with the impoverished North. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100524/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_korea added by: onemalefla