At the DMZ, Clinton and Gates pledge support for South Korea

Standing a few feet from North Korea, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday pledged Washington’s continued support for defense of South Korea, in an unprecedented joint visit to the demilitarized zone.

Their brief tour of the DMZ was the centerpiece of a high-level visit meant to show resolve to North Korea in the aftermath of the March sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 crew members.

In a statement, Gates said the visit was intended “to send a strong signal to the North, to the region, and to the world that our commitment to South Korea’s security is steadfast” and “should deter any potential aggressor.”

Clinton emphasized that better relations with North Korea remained possible, an apparent reference to the intermittent six-nation talks, which aim to eliminate the country’s nuclear weapons program and bring an end to its decades of isolation.

The talks — which involve the U.S., Japan, Russia, China and both Koreas — have been in limbo since 2008. The Obama administration has sent signals that it would welcome a return to the negotiations, but the sinking of the Cheonan has increased opposition to that course among officials in Seoul.

“We continue to send a message to the North that there is another way,” Clinton said as a light rain fell and North Korean soldiers looked on from across the armistice line. “But until they change direction, the United States stands firmly on behalf of the people and government of South Korea.”

Gates and Clinton stood on an observation tower under umbrellas and looked through binoculars into North Korea.

“The North Koreans work pretty hard to keep their flag pole higher,” Gates noted, referring to a decades-old effort to outdo the South and the U.S. in flagpole heights and other visible symbols of their regime.

North Korean guards peered through a window while Gates and Clinton briefly toured the Military Armistice Commission building, a low-slung plywood structure where semi-regular meetings occur between the two sides.

Inside, the two Cabinet officials stepped into the North Korean half of the building, technically placing them in enemy territory.

It was Clinton’s first visit to the demilitarized zone and the third for Gates, but his first as Defense secretary.

Gates and Clinton were scheduled to hold joint talks with South Korean counterparts later Wednesday and to lay a wreath at the South Korean war memorial.

The Clinton-Gates appearance came after an announcement Tuesday of air and naval exercises by the U.S. and South Korea, set to begin this week.

In a sign of the heightened tensions over the Cheonan sinking, North Korea refused to accept a formal notification of the maneuvers conveyed over a telephone hotline Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters.

Instead, North Korea was given notice about the exercises verbally, over a bullhorn in the DMZ, he said.

Pyongyang has denied involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan. But a South Korean-led investigation concluded that the vessel was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.

Fewer than 100 U.S. troops are stationed in the DMZ, though the U.S. maintains nearly 28,500 military personnel in South Korea — 57 years after the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

The continuing troop presence underscored the difficulty the U.S. faces in disengaging from war zones, an issue that Washington now faces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Despite the recent tensions with North Korea, the U.S. military presence on the peninsula is considered routine, accepted by many South Koreans and by the Pentagon as an ongoing fact of life.

Gates on Tuesday visited Camp Casey, 20 miles south of the DMZ, where 7,000 U.S. troops are stationed. Though the camp once was considered a hardship assignment, soldiers now are permitted to bring their families.

Gen. Walter “Skip” Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, said that the number of service members who have brought spouses and children had grown from 1,600 two years ago to about 4,200.

New schools and other facilities are being built to accommodate even more families.

david.cloud@latimes.com