South Korea Threatens 'Enormous Retaliation'

Talk of all-out war is coming from both Koreas after yesterday's attack on a South Korean island by the north. South Korean President Lee Myung-bakhas put the country's military on its highest alert level and warned that the shelling is a "completely unforgivable" attack on civilians that cannot go unanswered, the Independent reports.

"I think enormous retaliation is going to be necessary to make North Korea incapable of provoking us again," Lee told reporters. Pyongyang, meanwhile, accused the South of provoking the attack by firing shells into disputed waters during a military exercise, and promised a "merciless" response to any further action. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the North Korean barrage as "one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean war," but he appealed for restraint in its aftermath.