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【明報專訊】A war between North Korea and South Korea ended in 1953, but North Korea has since militarily provoked (挑釁) South Korea. It has even had South Korean officials and citizens assassinated (暗殺). It was accused of sinking a South Korean vessel with torpedoes last March.

South Korea usually reacts to such provocations by imposing trade embargos (禁運), suspending exchanges and withholding aid. According to The Wall Street Journal, South Korea, the fifteenth largest economy in the world, is unlikely to risk declaring war. One of its worries is the location of Seoul, its capital, which is only 48km from the border. It could be destroyed in a few minutes.