(Image source: Cheong Wa Dae)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

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“On the brink of war.” That’s how North Korea is describing hostilities on the peninsula in advance of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. This just three days after a barrage of artillery fire from the North killed four South Koreans on the disputed island on Yeonpyeong.

Early Friday morning artillery fire could be heard from the north in what international observers are calling the lowest point in North-South Korean relations since a 1953 armistice agreement.

With tensions high - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak replaced his defense minister with a better-credentialed former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. NBC’s Richard Engel looks at rising tensions on the peninsula ahead of Sunday’s joint exercises.

Reporter: “North Korea says these exercises are reckless and that they bring the region to the brink of war. It is also threatening to respond aggressively against North Korea if any of these warships, U.S. Warships, South Korean warships enter any North Korean territory. The U.S. however is going forward with these joint exercises, the U.S. government and South Korea believe that these exercises are important to show solidarity...”

An editorial in Korea’s Chosun Ilbo urges a stronger response -- suggesting the Korean War might never have happened if the South had pushed back more firmly in the lead-up to the war.

“History is full of cases where a failure to deal sternly with minor incursions ended up triggering a major war. … The crimes of Kim Jong-il and his son Jong-un, who share the same blood with the man who ordered the invasion of South Korea 60 years ago, must be stopped now.”

But The Korea Times reports leaders of the president’s opposition party are pushing back against any calls toward force against the north. The article quotes the chairman of the opposition Democratic Party.

“The Lee Myung-bak administration is incapable in terms of security, with no ability to adequately prepare for and respond to a North Korean attack … War can never be the solution, and we should follow the way of peace. There is no better security than peace.”

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is the country’s first conservative president in nearly a decade -- and has taken a more hard line stance against the north than many of his predecessors. Reporting from Incheon -- where many Yeonpyeong residents have been evacuated -- CNN’s Stan Grant looks at North Korea’s rising rhetoric.

STAN GRANT:  “They've been releasing these statements calling South Korea the puppet group, a puppet of the United States. And saying that the U.S. and South Korea are deliberately whipping up this provocation. ... As we know Jim Jong Il has been unwell for sometime and planning a succession to his son Kim Jong Un, who’s only 27. A lot of people saying this an attempt by him to establish his leadership credentials.”

So what’s next, then? Politico’s Jonathan Allen tells MSNBC -- all the U.S. and South Korea can do is hurry up and wait.

“I think what's next is waiting to see what happens. I mean, obviously, we've got this exercise with the aircraft carrier group going over there. You have the transition of power from the North Koreans. Are they going to continue to send missiles or send strikes over at South Korea or are they going to continue to sink ships or are they going to back down now that they've sent their message they are going to continue to take sort of a strong man stance toward their neighbor?”
 

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