U.S. 'Feared Escalation After Yeonpyeong Attack'

Washington feared a military confrontation between North and South Korea following the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, a former White House insider writes.

Jeffrey Bader, the ex-senior director for East Asian affairs at the White House's National Security Council, writes in his book "Obama and China's Rise" due out later this month that South Korea was "considering retaliation well beyond a local response" if the North launched another provocation during artillery drills after the Yeongpyeong incident.

He says tensions mounted after the South Korean military announced it would hold the artillery drills in waters off Yeonpyeong Island after the North Korean attack. From the U.S. standpoint, there were concerns that the situation could escalate beyond control if it did not explain clearly to Seoul which types of support it could offer and which were not possible, he adds. Read More