Seoul talks tough as North, South Korea hold marathon crisis talks

South Korean President Park Geun-hye demanded on Monday that North Korea apologize over recent landmine blasts, even as the bitter rivals held marathon talks to defuse tensions that have brought the peninsula back to the brink of armed conflict.

Park said anti-North propaganda broadcasts would continue unless Pyongyang took responsibility for landmine explosions early this month that wounded two South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two countries.

North Korea denies it laid the mines. Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, rather than a peace treaty.

The landmine blasts escalated into a crisis that saw both sides exchange artillery fire on Thursday and ramp up their military readiness. The United Nations, the United States and the North's lone major ally, China, have all called for calm.

"We need a clear apology and measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations and tense situations," Park told a meeting with her top aides, according to a statement released by her office. "Otherwise, this government will take appropriate steps and continue loudspeaker broadcasts."

Seoul and Washington were reviewing the possibility of bringing in "strategic" U.S. military assets, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, without elaborating.

North Korea threatened military action in response to annual exercises by U.S. and South Korean forces two years ago, leading to a standoff during which U.S. stealth bombers flew over South Korea and an aircraft carrier was sent to the area.

"Our position at this point is to deter the North's provocation," Kim told a news briefing. "But if they wage provocation, our response will be merciless and they will truly feel sorry."

Reclusive North Korea had deployed twice the usual artillery strength at the border and had around 50 submarines away from base, the South's defense ministry said.

North Korea's state media has also kept up its anti-South rhetoric as the inter-Korean talks continued at the Panmunjom truce village inside the DMZ. Its KCNA news agency said 1 million young people had volunteered to join or rejoin the army - an assertion impossible to verify because of the North's isolation.

Park cited a story on Monday that two South Korean soldiers had delayed their discharges and South Korea's army said about 50 soldiers had taken the same step. Park's approval rating rose to 41 percent in a Realmeter poll conducted last week.

"I think that kind of patriotism can protect our country, setting an example for young people," she said.

(Reuters)