ID :
29913
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 09:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/29913
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea closes inter-Korean Red Cross dialogue channel
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details of statement, background)
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Wednesday it was closing its Red Cross liaison office and all direct telephone links at the truce village of Panmunjom in retaliation against Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
Inter-Korean relations have worsened since the conservative, pro-U.S. South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February, pledging to link
inter-Korean relations to North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
The North's announcement came in a statement issued by the country's Red Cross
Society criticizing Seoul's recent participation as a sponsor of a U.S.
resolution on North Korea's human rights abuses.
Earlier in the day, the North's military threatened to "strictly restrict and cut
off" all overland border crossings starting Dec. 1 in an apparent attempt to
press Seoul to change its tough stance on Pyongyang.
The Red Cross statement called Seoul's active role in drawing the U.N. human
rights resolution a "blatant challenge" to the dignity and system of North Korea
and a "total negation" of agreements signed in historic summits between the
leaders of the two Koreas in 2000 and 2007.
"It is absolutely (an) intolerable, treacherous and anti-reunification act for the
group of traitors to have brought somebody's non-existent 'human rights' issue
even to the international arena, daring to blatantly challenge the DPRK's dignity
and system," said the statement, according to the North's official Korean Central
News Agency.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of
North Korea.
The statement said the closure of the Red Cross channel will lead to a full
suspension of humanitarian programs that arrange temporary reunions of family
members who have been separated by the inter-Korean border since the 1950-53
Korean War.
Lee will have to assume responsibility for the deteriorated cross-border ties, it
said, adding that the fate of inter-Korean relations will depend on Seoul's
future attitude.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Wednesday it was closing its Red Cross liaison office and all direct telephone links at the truce village of Panmunjom in retaliation against Seoul's "confrontational" policy.
Inter-Korean relations have worsened since the conservative, pro-U.S. South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February, pledging to link
inter-Korean relations to North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
The North's announcement came in a statement issued by the country's Red Cross
Society criticizing Seoul's recent participation as a sponsor of a U.S.
resolution on North Korea's human rights abuses.
Earlier in the day, the North's military threatened to "strictly restrict and cut
off" all overland border crossings starting Dec. 1 in an apparent attempt to
press Seoul to change its tough stance on Pyongyang.
The Red Cross statement called Seoul's active role in drawing the U.N. human
rights resolution a "blatant challenge" to the dignity and system of North Korea
and a "total negation" of agreements signed in historic summits between the
leaders of the two Koreas in 2000 and 2007.
"It is absolutely (an) intolerable, treacherous and anti-reunification act for the
group of traitors to have brought somebody's non-existent 'human rights' issue
even to the international arena, daring to blatantly challenge the DPRK's dignity
and system," said the statement, according to the North's official Korean Central
News Agency.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of
North Korea.
The statement said the closure of the Red Cross channel will lead to a full
suspension of humanitarian programs that arrange temporary reunions of family
members who have been separated by the inter-Korean border since the 1950-53
Korean War.
Lee will have to assume responsibility for the deteriorated cross-border ties, it
said, adding that the fate of inter-Korean relations will depend on Seoul's
future attitude.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
