Chinese ships 'quit Korea waters'

Chinese fishing boats are reported to be leaving the tense inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea after North Korea's threat of military action.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted defence sources as saying the South's military authorities are trying to find out if Chinese ships were told to go.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters he was not aware of any unusual troop movements in North Korea.

The North set off a nuclear test and several missiles this week.

North Korea threatened military action against the South after Seoul's decision to join a US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) which could allow for searches of Northern shipping.

Pyongyang says this decision is tantamount to an act of war and that it no longer felt bound by the Armistice which in 1953 brought an end to the Korean War.

See comparison of North and South's military power

South Korea said it would no longer delay joining the PSI after North Korea conducted a large nuclear test on Monday, followed by several missile launches.

Fishing

"Chinese fishing boats operating near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) began withdrawing yesterday," Yonhap quoted a defence source as saying.

More than 280 Chinese vessels were fishing near the NLL for crab earlier this week but the number has fallen to about 140, according to the source.

The NLL, which North Korea refuses to recognise, marks the maritime border off the west coast of the peninsula. It was the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.

Yonhap also quoted an official at Seoul's presidential office saying the withdrawal did not appear to be a sign of an imminent provocation.

"All Chinese ships would have evacuated the area if that was the case," the official said, adding the crab-catching season was almost over.

"Now that there's talk of... an all-out war, we fishermen are worried. Nowadays when we go out, we do know we are facing dangers," Reuters quoted a South Korean fisherman, Kim Jae-sik, in waters claimed by the North but occupied by the South.

Guam calm

Speaking at the Andersen US Air Force base in Guam, Mr Gates said he saw no need to increase troop levels in South Korea from the current total of 28,000.

"I am not aware of any military moves in the North, that are out of the ordinary at least," he said.

South Korea and the United States earlier raised the military alert level in the region which calls for increased surveillance but not increased military manoeuvres.

Analysts say the tension generated in the North could be largely geared to the domestic audience, to justify military spending and control of the population against an alleged threat from the West.

"We have no intention of taking military action against North Korea unless they do something that requires it," he said, in comments described by AFP news agency as an attempt to play down the sense of crisis.

"Just based on the what the Chinese government has said publicly, they're clearly pretty unhappy about the nuclear testing in particular and they weren't very happy about the missile test either," he added.

Mr Gates said North Korea's actions had been "very provocative, aggressive, accompanied by a very aggressive rhetoric", and issued a warning against any military moves.

"I think at the same time it may create some opportunities for multilateral cooperation to try and persuade the North Koreans to change that behaviour," he said.

Mr Gates is on his way to a two-day security dialogue in Singapore.

In New York, the US and Japan circulated a draft United Nations Security Council resolution to key council members that condemned Pyongyang's second nuclear test on Monday and called for strict enforcement of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea after its first atomic test in October 2006.

When North Korea agreed in February 2007 to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and diplomatic concessions, there was real hope of reaching a settlement.

But the negotiations stalled as it accused its negotiating partners - the US, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia - of failing to meet agreed obligations.