ID :
62862
Thu, 05/28/2009 - 08:55
Auther :

News Focus) N. Korea moves closer to military clash in tense sea border

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- Military tension rose sharply between South and North
Korea on Wednesday as the North declared an inter-Korean armistice null and void,
a move that analysts say may lead to clashes any time.

Pyongyang's nullification of the truce that stopped the 1950-1953 Korean War came
a day after Seoul announced its decision to join a U.S.-led drive to stop the
spread of weapons of mass destruction.
In a statement, North Korea described the current situation as tense "as in
wartime" and "beyond the uncontrollable danger line of a war." The North
specifically referred to the western sea border, the site of two bloody naval
skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
The North said it will no longer guarantee the safe passage of civilian ships, as
well as U.S. and South Korean warships, operating along the Yellow Sea border, a
resounding threat during peak crab-catching season.
"With this warning, a military clash is no more a possibility, but a reality.
Words are turning into action," Paik Hak-soon, an analyst with the
non-governmental Sejong Institute, said.
He noted North Korea has been following through with its warnings despite
international rebukes and sanctions that were imposed on it over its April rocket
launch, its withdrawal from nuclear disarmament talks and the nuclear test this
week.
The sea border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command
after the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea has rejected it as illegitimate and in
1999 redrew the border further south. But it still acknowledged South Korea's
jurisdiction over several inhabited islands located in the overlapping zone.
Past skirmishes claimed the lives of scores of naval soldiers on both sides. Paik
said if any skirmish recurs there, casualties will be larger due to the lack of
inter-Korean communication channels.
Seoul officials have said North Korea has increased artillery training around the
western border region facing the South this year. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
has inspected artillery units there every month from January to March, according
to Pyongyang's media.
Analysts believe the latest warnings may also extend to the U.S. that has 28,500
soldiers deployed south of the border. The North's Panmunjom Mission to the joint
security area, whose counterpart is the U.S.-led United Nations Command, said the
country will no more abide by the armistice agreement, saying South Korea has
already reneged on it by joining the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
The North claims the U.S.-led PSI, aimed at seizing ships and planes suspected of
carrying weapons of mass destruction, is in violation of the armistice that bans
any form of naval blockade on the peninsula. With that view, Pyongyang threatened
that Seoul's participation in the PSI would be considered a "declaration of war."
The North Korean military will "regard any hostile actions against the DPRK,
including checkup and inspection of its peaceful vessels, as an unpardonable
encroachment on the DPRK's sovereignty and counter them with prompt and strong
military strikes," the statement said.
Analysts say North Korea may follow up by seizing South Korean fishing boats or
test-firing missiles in the western waters.
Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Dongguk University, said North Korea is certain to
continue raising the stakes, but that it is also aware of the high risks.
"It won't be easy for the North to attempt a provocation that will only lead to
its loss, given the superior military force of the South," he said.
Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea studies professor at Korea University, said North
Korea has routinely claimed that the armistice is void, but now the situation is
more tense due to the political deadlock.
"When clashes broke out accidentally, there were channels to resolve them. That
buffer has now thinned, which can make a small incident a big clash," Yoo warned.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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