No alert for U.S. troops in Korea, Pentagon says

This is no small matter. Any miscalculation could lead to devastating war between the Korea's. The U.S. and South Korea must international help on this matter. They should take their case to the UN and world community. The Chinese should be smoked out on this. They support North Korea and have some influence over them. The innocent people killed must get justice. This matter can be pursued without it leading to a major war.

U.S. troops based in South Korea have not been put on a heightened state of alert in the wake of that country's announcement that North Korea was behind the sinking of one of its warships in March, the Pentagon said Thursday.

At a Pentagon press briefing, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States supports the findings of the investigation -- that the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo -- but he would not say what the United States is prepared to do, if anything, militarily.

"We are in close consultations with the South Koreans," Gates said. "The attack was against one of their ships and, naturally, they will have the lead in laying out the path forward and we will be consulting with them very closely as we move ahead."