Lee presses N. Korea to apologize for last year's island attack

President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday he expects North Korea to offer an official apology for its deadly shelling a year ago of a South Korean border island, as he paid a visit to a Marine command to mark the first anniversary of the attack.    "North Korea has not offered an official apology yet," Lee said during the visit to the Northwest Islands Defense Command, which is tasked with guarding the tense western sea border and nearby islands, including Yeonpyeong that was shelled last year. "I expect North Korea will sometime state its official position for the sake of national reconciliation." Last year's shelling killed two Marines and two civilians. It was the North's first attack on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, though the two sides had fought deadly skirmishes near the western maritime border before.North Korea later expressed regret over civilian damage from the artillery attack, but claimed it was part of a self-defense measure in response to naval exercises in the South.  Lee said he had intended to visit Yeonpyeong to mark the anniversary, but weather conditions were too bad to fly there. The Northwest Islands Defense Command was created after the attack in an effort to beef up defense of the sea border area. "It has been a year since Yeonpyeong was violated. All of our people are not forgetting this day," Lee said. "If we are citizens of the Republic of Korea, it is impossible not to get outraged at seeing us attacked." Lee offered condolences and words of comfort to those killed or wounded in the attack. "North Korea makes provocations when we are weak. If we are strong, North Korea will not dare make provocations," he said during a video phone conversation with Marine commanders stationed on Yeonpyeong and other islands, calling for strong defense posture and readiness. "Our objective does not lie in going to war, but deterring war," he said. "I hope you will work with a strong mindset that we won't forgive enemy provocations."