S. KOREA STRENGTHEN DEFENSES AFTER ATTACK

SOUTH KOREA TO BOOST ISLAND
DEFENSES AFTER ARTILLERY EXCHANGE

SEOUL (www.nytimes.com) - Concerned that its military’s response to a North Korean artillery attack was too feeble and passive, South Korea said on Thursday it would bolster its island defenses and make its rules of engagement more muscular. Seoul also said it would press China to use its considerable diplomatic leverage with the North to avoid an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. President Lee Myung-bak held a security meeting Thursday morning at the Blue House, the presidential compound in Seoul, where the new strategies were drafted. North and South Korea exchanged barrages of artillery fire on Tuesday afternoon. The battle killed two marines and two civilians on the small South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, which sits about nine miles off the North Korean coast. North Korea said it was provoked by South Korean artillery fire landing in its territorial waters. The South said its artillery batteries responded to an “unprovoked and premeditated” attack on Yeonpyeong.

North Korea says it will retaliate against ‘reckless provocations’ as US a aircraft carrier heads to the area for military exercises. Through its official news agency, Pyongyang warned of further military retaliation if provoked by South Korea. It was unclear from the North Korean statement whether the arrival of a United States aircraft carrier group off its western coast would be seen as a provocation. The carrier George Washington - with 5,700 personnel and about 85 fighter planes - was headed Thursday to the Yellow Sea. The carrier group will join with South Korean forces for a four-day series of military exercises that are scheduled to start Sunday.


South Korea has ordered the country's military to strengthen its troop presence on islands near its border with North Korea after this week's bombardment. The US and South Korea are to press China to rein in the North, hoping that Beijing - Pyongyang's closest ally - will play a pivotal role in restoring calm. Barack Obama says it's very important for China to lead in that region and make efforts to restrain North Korea. We always observe that world leaders want to build peace, but such peace is always weak and temporary. To attain Real Peace, we should search for the divine peace, and this is to end with this cruel struggle for life in this material world and return to our eternal abode, the home of the Supreme Lord, the Emperor of Peace and Love.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Though the vocation of each individual is different, everyone’s goal is the same - the attainment of peace. If we ignore the Emperor of Peace and simply devote ourselves to worldly duties or to our work, thinking that peace will come to us through material learning, wealth or riches, then we are destined to fall into the pit of misery. The consequences of this attitude are clear - people are becoming more and more selfishly oriented and thus actually ignoring the interests of their society and country. They have forgotten that the struggle for enjoyment or renunciation is not the essential struggle in life. We achieve real enjoyment by renouncing our own selfish interest in favor of higher purposes like society, country and God. The real struggle in life is to find a harmonious relationship between enjoyment and renunciation. ... If we do this, we can make our lives successful.

Śrīla Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Mahārāja :
“Sanatan Hindu Dharma - The Way to Harmony”
http://www.gopinathmath.com/book/export/html/53
http://www.gopinathmath.ru/katha/Sanatana%20Hindu%20Dharma%20way%20to%20harmony.pdf