S. Korea to express regret over N. Korea's warning on flights

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- Tension rose sharply Friday on the Korean Peninsula
after North Korea said it cannot ensure the safety of South Korean planes flying
in its airspace, adding to concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing for a missile
launch.

North Korea blamed a joint military exercise by South Korea and the United States
set to begin next week. In a statement issued Thursday night, Pyongyang said it
is "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean
civil airplanes ... while the military exercises are under way."
The latest threat prompted South Korean airliners to reroute flights. Generals
from North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees the
ceasefire along the inter-Korean border, are set to meet on Friday.
"It is the first time North Korea has turned toward South Korean flights,"
Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said. The South Korean government
will express regret and announce its position later in the morning, Kim said.
South Korea and the U.S. are scheduled to begin their annual Key Resolve and
Foal Eagle drill on Monday. The allies say the annual war drill is purely
defensive, but Pyongyang views it as a preparation for an invasion.
In this year's March 9-20 drill, the U.S. plans to mobilize a nuclear-powered
carrier and 26,000 troops to test its ability to quickly deploy forces should
North Korea invade.
Pyongyang noted that the large-scale war drills are "the first of their kind
since the emergence of the new administration in the United States."
Military sources here said "no unusual activity" has been detected along the
border, but they added the warning may be a sign that North Korea is trying to
clear its airspace before testing its suspected ballistic missile.
North Korea said last month it is preparing to launch a satellite. U.S. and South
Korean intelligence officials it is actually planning to test-fire its long-range
Taepodong-2 missile, which is supposedly capable of striking Alaska and Hawaii.
Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea analyst at the state-run Korea Institute for
Defense Analyses, said the most recent warning may be connected to a missile
launch but that it could also be considered "psychological warfare."
"It could possibly be a preparation for a rocket launch. But for that purpose,
North Korea would have to threaten all flights from around the world passing its
airspace, not just South Korean flights. This seems more like psychological
warfare aimed at bolstering calls in South Korea opposing the U.S. and the joint
war drills," Baek said.
Other countries in the region have threatened sanctions against the North,
regardless of whether it launches a missile or a satellite.
In its first talks with the U.N. Command in over six years on Monday, Pyongyang
demanded that the annual joint drill be canceled.
The U.N. command is backed by 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
hkim@yna.co.kr