South Korea Wants To Get More Butch

South Korean defence minister resigns over deadly clash

"South Korea's defence minister has resigned amid criticism of his handling of North Korea's shelling of an island near their disputed maritime border.
President Lee Myung-bak will name Kim Tae-young's successor on Friday.
Tuesday's barrage left two South Korean civilians and two marines dead, and sent regional tensions soaring.
South Korea has increased troop numbers on Yeonpyeong and other nearby islands, and announced more rigorous rules of engagement for future incidents.
Mr Kim had been urged to step down by legislators from both governing and opposition parties over his handling of the shelling.
In his resignation statement, the minister said he took full responsibility.

The government also said it was changing its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully to similar incidents. The old rules have been criticised as too passive.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Seoul says the cabinet had decided that under the old rules of engagement there was too much emphasis on preventing a military incident escalating into something worse.

In future, the South would implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets, a presidential spokesman said.

A senior government official told the BBC that Seoul wanted to be more flexible in order to keep the North Koreans guessing as to their response.


Seoul to discuss with Washington the return of US tactical nuclear weapons

"South Korea will consider at consultations with the United States the possibility of return of US tactical nuclear weapons to its territory, South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said on Monday.

To a question of an MP whether the government intends to consider the redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, the defence minister replied in the affirmative."