The US commander in South Korea said Monday that North Korea is likely to launch more military attacks against the South, but Seoul and Washington are better prepared to counter the threat.

"While the Kim (Jong-Il) regime has proven a willingness to escalate in order to obtain what it wants, I am convinced that the ROK (South Korea)-US alliance is prepared," General Walter Sharp told a forum.

"Our counter-provocation planning and combined exercises are stronger than ever.... In the past year, we have worked hard to develop a hostile counter-provocation plan that more adequately addresses the full spectrum of conflict."

The South's defence minister Kim Kwan-Jin said last week the North is increasingly likely to launch a "surprise provocation" following a series of strongly worded threats.

Tensions have been high for more than a year, since the South accused the North of torpedoing the Cheonan warship near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March 2010, with the loss of 46 lives.

The North denied involvement in the sinking, but killed four people with an artillery bombardment of a South Korean island last November. The same month it disclosed a uranium enrichment plant which could give it a second way to make atomic weapons.

In recent weeks, the regime has announced it will no longer deal with the South's conservative government.

Its military threatened an attack after some South Korean military units used photos of the Kim dynasty as rifle-range targets, a practice now banned.

"North Korea's unprovoked submarine attack against the Cheonan, announcement of their highly enriched uranium programme and brutal artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island over the past year were part of the North's spiralling threat of coercive strategy," Sharp was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying.

"Their desire to antagonise, provoke, appease and demand concessions has been taken in order to achieve the regime's goals of gaining food, fuel, economic aid and succession to sustain their regime and become a 'strong and prosperous nation' by 2012."

The North has publicly set such a goal to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late founder Kim Il-Sung next year.

A total of 28,500 US troops are stationed in the South to help defend it against the North.

earlier related report
S. Korea military apologises for firing at Airbus
Seoul (AFP) June 20, 2011 - South Korea's military apologised to the country Monday for an incident in which two Marines fired at a civilian airliner after mistaking it for a North Korean warplane.

But it reiterated that the pair will not face punishment for the pre-dawn firing last Friday.

"The military sincerely apologises to our people for causing worries over the incident," said Colonel Lee Bung-woo, a spokesman at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But Lee, quoted by Yonhap news agency, said the Marines will not be reprimanded since they acted in line with rules of engagement.

Instead, the military would strengthen training for soldiers at frontline guard posts so they can distinguish civilian and military aircraft.

With cross-border tensions high, the Marines guarding an island near the Yellow Sea border fired their K-2 rifles at an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 flying in fog over the sea.

The plane, which was descending to land at Incheon International Airport, was out of range and undamaged.

Lee said the pair fired a total of 99 rounds towards the plane for some four minutes, with tracer accounting for nearly half of the total.

They opened fire immediately after reporting what they believed to be a North Korean military aircraft to their platoon leader.

The platoon leader in turn reported the incident to the Air Force's Master Control and Reporting Center (MCRC).

But the spokesman said it took about 20 minutes for the centre to notify the guard post that the aircraft was a civilian Airbus.

"While the MCRC tried immediately to notify the guard post using a telephone, the Marines at the post didn't come on the line because they were taking additional measures to track the plane at that time," Lee said.

The plane, with 119 people on board, was following a normal route from the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, the airline said.

South Korean soldiers are on alert for possible attacks by North Korea amid simmering cross-border tensions, and following two deadly border incidents last year.

Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin has told frontline troops that if the North Koreans attack, they should strike back immediately without waiting for orders from top commanders about how to respond.