Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met with South Korea's president and other top officials, as efforts get underway to rally global support for measures against North Korea. Western investigators accuse the North of a deadly naval attack.
Secretary of State Clinton took a positive approach Wednesday toward what many view as an uphill battle in convincing China to help punish North Korea. "I believe that the Chinese understand the seriousness of this issue and are willing to listen to the concerns expressed by both South Korea and the United States," she said.

A multinational investigative team concluded last week a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine was responsible for sinking a South Korean patrol ship in March, killing 46 sailors. Clinton expressed what she called "greatest admiration" for South Korea's restraint in avoiding an emotional response. She says the thorough and scientific probe it conducted should be helpful in persuading China.
"We hope that China will take us up on our offer to really understand the details of what happened and the objectivity of the investigation that led to the conclusions," Mrs. Clinton stated.

China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, where South Korea intends to call for new international sanctions against Pyongyang. It has been a historical lifeline of food and fuel to impoverished North Korea, but -- on a more practical level -- is reluctant to do anything that might destabilize the country and create a security threat right next door.

In a joint news conference with Clinton, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he too believes the investigation report will bring even hesitant nations around.

He says it may take time in the case of China and Russia, but that they cannot deny the facts forever.

Beyond punishing the North for unacceptable behavior, Secretary Clinton called upon the international community to get North Korea to change course. "There's a different path for North Korea. And, we believe it's in everyone's interest, including China, to make a persuasive case for North Korea to change direction," she said. "They need to look internally toward what they can do to improve the standing of their own people and provide for a different future."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Friday.

North Korea has begun to freeze ties with the South, which already halted most trade with Pyongyang in retaliation for the sinking of a South Korean warship. The North has denied responsibility for the attack on the vessel and is accusing the South of launching a "smear campaign" against it.
Pyongyang has expelled eight South Korean government officials from a joint factory park in the North. And, it is threatening to block what little cross-border traffic exists.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul says hundreds of South Korean managers and other workers from the South were allowed to enter the industrial complex in the west coast Kaesong border city, Wednesday.

But ministry spokesman Chun Hae Sung tells reporters North Korea quickly acted on other aspects of its threat to cut all communications ties with the South.

He says Pyongyang Wednesday halted contact between the Red Cross delegations in the truce village, Panmunjom, and the North Korean Navy contacted the South to inform it that all marine communications between the two Korea's are now cut.

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated steadily since the Cheonan, a South Korean naval vessel in the Yellow Sea, exploded a month ago, killing 46 crew members. An international investigation concluded last week that the coastal patrol warship was hit by a North Korean torpedo.

South Korea's defense ministry tells VOA News that plans to send tens of thousands of leaflets northward by ballon have been delayed because of wind conditions, but they could go aloft as early as Thursday. Officials say the leaflets are intended to inform North Koreans about the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel. The North views Southern pamphleteering as hostile propaganda.

South Korea's military is using loudspeakers along the border, silenced for six years, and re-instituting FM broadcasting to the North.

North Korea's state television newscaster announced such propaganda will not be tolerated.

The North Korean newscaster says it will open fire on the South Korean loudspeakers and destroy them.

Pyongyang says a resumption of the propaganda campaign will also compel it to totally shut down the Kaesong industrial complex, where more than 100 South Korean firms employ about 42,000 North Korean workers.

The two countries have no diplomatic relations and technically remain at war following a 1953 truce which ended the three-year Korean War.

The United States, which has 28,000 troops in South Korea, has hurriedly announced plans for several joint military exercises in the coming month. In the past, Pyongyang has strongly condemned U.S.-South Korean drills, claiming they are preparations for an invasion of the North.

Tensions are building as eight ships carrying thousands of tons of material and supplies are headed for Gaza to break a blockade-Israel imposed the border closure after Hamas seized power over Gaza in 2007.

The boats left ports in Britain, Greece, Ireland and Turkey yesterday. The so-called Freedom Flotilla will assemble at Cyprus Friday and make the final one-day journey to Gaza collectively.

Israel has said it will not allow the aid convoy to reach Gaza. It has imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamist militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The Israeli military has sought to prevent militants from receiving materials that can be used to attack Israel, and has stopped other vessels carrying aid to Palestinians in the past.

The Israeli Army calls the flotilla a provocation, orchestrated by Hamas under the guise of delivering humanitarian relief to residents of Gaza. It says the humanitarian situation there is "good and stable."

A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces told VOA that any organization wanting to deliver supplies to Gaza is free to do so, but in coordination with the Israeli government. "Anything that could happen we're ready for. That's all I can tell you," he said.

Israel says it has set up a detention center for the activists who attempt break the blockade.

Christopher Gunnes is a spokesman with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. He said that the situation on the ground in Gaza is dire.

"The idea that Gaza has everything that it needs is absurd. Basic things are getting in, yes," he said. "They're getting in through the tunnels."

"And that means that the number of those who can't afford to feed their families - special hardship cases, we call them, has gone up in the last year alone from 100,000 to 300,000 because prices of goods coming through the tunnels are going up and up and up. There is undoubtedly a serious humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza and to say anything else is simply absurd," he added.

Several hundred journalists and activists are reported to be on board the ships, including an aged Holocaust survivor and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says a nuclear fuel swap deal Tehran recently reached with Brazil and Turkey is the "last opportunity" to resolve a long-standing nuclear dispute between Iran and the West.

President Ahmadinejad presented his argument with characteristic oratorical verve, saying a nuclear fuel swap deal worked out by Brazil and Turkey last week was a "final opportunity" that must not be lost by the international community.

He says that President Barack Obama should understand that this agreement is a historic chance to show that he wants to create change, to respect the rights of other nations, and to give up what he calls the erroneous policies of past American administrations.

He also appealed directly to President Obama to use his influence to better what he called the "political future of the world" and to oppose those whom he says are counseling Mr. Obama to take a tough stance against Iran.

The United States and other top Western powers have been critical of the recent fuel-swap deal, arguing it does nothing to allay fears that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. A similar deal was first proposed last October, when Tehran had a much smaller stockpile of enriched uranium.

Mr. Ahmadinejad also criticized Russia for siding with the United States on a plan to impose a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran. The proposal is being debated in the U.N. Security Council. The resolution appears to have the backing of the Security Council's five veto-wielding permanent members, including China and Russia.

Editor Alex Vatanka of Janes' Islamic Affairs Analyst argues the three main centers of power in Iran, President Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, have conflicting views about the nuclear deal.

"I think it is quite complex, because, whereas the IRGC and the Supreme Leader might have their own survival at stake, Ahmadinejad sees himself differently. He sees himself as the elected official who has to go for the popular vote," Vatanka said. "And he knows that overhauling relations with the United States could really generate some good will in Iran, because, by and large, despite what everyone in the world thinks, there is a lot of pro-American sentiment in Iran. And a lot of people in Iran appreciate that one of the biggest obstacles in improving their lives is the international isolation that they are facing, and that America is crucial in keeping Iran isolated."

Vatanka also believes Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, is not in a strong position to oppose Mr. Ahmadinejad, should he attempt a rapprochement with the United States, and the Revolutionary Guard, while powerful, remains divided among itself.