President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday reiterated his commitment never to tolerate North Korean provocations, warning that South Korea will strike back at the communist nation several times as strongly as it is attacked.

Lee made the remark in a meeting with an advisory group of social elders, talking about last week’s 10th anniversary of a deadly naval skirmish with North Korea that left six South Korean sailors dead. Lee said he believes the clash was premeditated by Pyongyang, not accidental.

“We are making it clear that we will respond to whatever provocations North Korea makes with (a counterstrike) several times” stronger than the North’s action, Lee said, according to presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha. “We also asked China to relay this position of ours to North Korea.”

China also has a position that it can no longer take North Korea’s side in the international community if Pyongyang makes additional provocations, Lee said.

Relations between the two Koreas turned sour as North Korea protested strongly against Lee’s policy to link aid to the impoverished nation to progress in efforts to end its nuclear weapons programs.

Their ties plunged further to a near-irreparable level after North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship and bombarded a border island in 2010, killing a total of 50 South Koreans, including two civilians. (Yonhap News)