ID :
43341
Fri, 01/30/2009 - 18:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/43341
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea scraps agreement on sea border with S. Korea
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said on Friday that it is scrapping all political and military agreements with South Korea and declared a western sea border void, sharply raising tensions and the possibility of a naval clash.
The move revived tensions of the Cold War era, trampling a landmark accord that
the Koreas reached in 1991 to prevent military clashes and boost reconciliatory
efforts. Seoul expressed "deep regret" and urged Pyongyang to agree to dialogue.
North Korea blasted the South Korean government and said the hardline policies of
Lee Myung-bak forced it to scrap the accords.
"The group of traitors has already reduced all the agreements reached between the
north and the south in the past to dead documents," the North's Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a body handling inter-Korean affairs, said in a
statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
"Under such situation it is self-evident that there is no need for the DPRK to
remain bound to those north-south agreements," it said. DPRK is the acronym for
the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Earlier in January, North Korea's military warned of a possible naval clash,
accusing South Korea of preparing for war and saying it had been forced to take
"an all-out confrontational posture" against the South.
Tension has since risen along the western maritime border in the Yellow Sea,
called the Northern Limit Line, which Pyongyang claims to be invalid. The sea
border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end
of the 1950-53 Korean War and North Korea insists it should be re-drawn farther
south.
Bloody naval clashes occurred there in 1999 and 2002, claiming the lives of
scores of soldiers on both sides.
Friday's statement by the North was more specific. It said Pyongyang will no
longer be bound to the watershed inter-Korean Basic Agreement, which was reached
by the two Koreas' prime ministers in 1991 to pledge peaceful co-existence and
laid the groundwork for the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.
"First, all the agreed points concerning the issue of putting an end to the
political and military confrontation between the north and the south will be
nullified," it said, adding that "the points on the military boundary line in the
West Sea stipulated in its appendix will be nullified."
The statement comes just days after leader Kim Jong-il said he "does not want to
see tension emerge on the Korean Peninsula" in a meeting with a visiting Chinese
official.
South Korea put its military on heightened alert, but no unusual signs were
spotted along the border, officials at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae
said.
North Korean commercial boats continued passing through the strait off South
Korea's southern island of Jeju under a 2005 reconciliatory shipping treaty,
officials said.
"Our government expresses deep regret to North Korea for unilaterally scrapping
the agreements," Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Unification Ministry handling
North Korean affairs, said in a press conference.
"We urge North Korea to accept our call for dialogue as soon as possible," he
continued, "The North should immediately stop slandering the highest leader of
its counterpart as such acts seriously violate the spirit of the agreements."
The spokesman said the 1991 accord cannot be abolished by the North's unilateral
move.
Pyongyang's latest threat -- the highest warning yet since Lee took office 11
months ago -- follows Lee's nomination of a hawkish scholar as Seoul's new
unification minister, an appointment North Korea has called an "outright
challenge."
Hyun In-taek, a political science professor at Korea University, was a key
architect of Lee's North Korea policy linking economic aid to Pyongyang's
denuclearization. in line with that policy, Lee suspended South Korea's customary
rice and fertilizer aid to the North.
For Pyongyang, Hyun's appointment could be a final sign that Lee's hardline
stance has become inveterate, analysts said. But turning threats into action is
another issue because such moves will be burdensome for the North as it is hoping
to mend ties with the new U.S. government and push negotiations for an
aid-for-denuclearization deal forward, they said.
"The North is sensing that South Korea's government is becoming more
conservative," Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Dongguk University, said.
"North Korea is saying that it won't just sit and watch. But to turn the threats
into action will be a burden for the North," he said.
Kim Young-soo, a political science professor at Sogang University, said North
Korea may try to trigger military skirmishes to draw Washington's attention. The
U.S. was a key party involved in the origins of the western sea border.
"It is saying no agreements now exist between the South and the North and any
action it might take is justifiable," Kim said. "North Korea seems to be trying
to seek a solution by escalating tension."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
The move revived tensions of the Cold War era, trampling a landmark accord that
the Koreas reached in 1991 to prevent military clashes and boost reconciliatory
efforts. Seoul expressed "deep regret" and urged Pyongyang to agree to dialogue.
North Korea blasted the South Korean government and said the hardline policies of
Lee Myung-bak forced it to scrap the accords.
"The group of traitors has already reduced all the agreements reached between the
north and the south in the past to dead documents," the North's Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a body handling inter-Korean affairs, said in a
statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
"Under such situation it is self-evident that there is no need for the DPRK to
remain bound to those north-south agreements," it said. DPRK is the acronym for
the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Earlier in January, North Korea's military warned of a possible naval clash,
accusing South Korea of preparing for war and saying it had been forced to take
"an all-out confrontational posture" against the South.
Tension has since risen along the western maritime border in the Yellow Sea,
called the Northern Limit Line, which Pyongyang claims to be invalid. The sea
border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end
of the 1950-53 Korean War and North Korea insists it should be re-drawn farther
south.
Bloody naval clashes occurred there in 1999 and 2002, claiming the lives of
scores of soldiers on both sides.
Friday's statement by the North was more specific. It said Pyongyang will no
longer be bound to the watershed inter-Korean Basic Agreement, which was reached
by the two Koreas' prime ministers in 1991 to pledge peaceful co-existence and
laid the groundwork for the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.
"First, all the agreed points concerning the issue of putting an end to the
political and military confrontation between the north and the south will be
nullified," it said, adding that "the points on the military boundary line in the
West Sea stipulated in its appendix will be nullified."
The statement comes just days after leader Kim Jong-il said he "does not want to
see tension emerge on the Korean Peninsula" in a meeting with a visiting Chinese
official.
South Korea put its military on heightened alert, but no unusual signs were
spotted along the border, officials at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae
said.
North Korean commercial boats continued passing through the strait off South
Korea's southern island of Jeju under a 2005 reconciliatory shipping treaty,
officials said.
"Our government expresses deep regret to North Korea for unilaterally scrapping
the agreements," Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Unification Ministry handling
North Korean affairs, said in a press conference.
"We urge North Korea to accept our call for dialogue as soon as possible," he
continued, "The North should immediately stop slandering the highest leader of
its counterpart as such acts seriously violate the spirit of the agreements."
The spokesman said the 1991 accord cannot be abolished by the North's unilateral
move.
Pyongyang's latest threat -- the highest warning yet since Lee took office 11
months ago -- follows Lee's nomination of a hawkish scholar as Seoul's new
unification minister, an appointment North Korea has called an "outright
challenge."
Hyun In-taek, a political science professor at Korea University, was a key
architect of Lee's North Korea policy linking economic aid to Pyongyang's
denuclearization. in line with that policy, Lee suspended South Korea's customary
rice and fertilizer aid to the North.
For Pyongyang, Hyun's appointment could be a final sign that Lee's hardline
stance has become inveterate, analysts said. But turning threats into action is
another issue because such moves will be burdensome for the North as it is hoping
to mend ties with the new U.S. government and push negotiations for an
aid-for-denuclearization deal forward, they said.
"The North is sensing that South Korea's government is becoming more
conservative," Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Dongguk University, said.
"North Korea is saying that it won't just sit and watch. But to turn the threats
into action will be a burden for the North," he said.
Kim Young-soo, a political science professor at Sogang University, said North
Korea may try to trigger military skirmishes to draw Washington's attention. The
U.S. was a key party involved in the origins of the western sea border.
"It is saying no agreements now exist between the South and the North and any
action it might take is justifiable," Kim said. "North Korea seems to be trying
to seek a solution by escalating tension."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
