N. Korea lambasts S. Korea's defense white paper

SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea blasted South Korea on Saturday for
describing it as an "immediate and grave threat" in its new defense white paper,
rebutting that South Korea's joint drills with the United States threaten peace.

Amid mounting military tension on the peninsula, the Lee Myung-bak administration
toughened the definition of North Korea in Seoul's new 2008 Defense White Paper,
calling the communist neighbor a threat that is both immediate and grave.
The previous white paper for 2006 called North Korea an "existing military
threat."
"It is the United States and the South Korean puppet government who are creating
the immediate and grave threat to the peace and stability of the Korean
Peninsula," the Minju Joson, the newspaper of the North Korean Cabinet, said in a
commentary.
The statement lambasted a joint war drill by South Korea and the U.S. set to
begin on Monday. In the 12-day Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drill, the U.S. plans
to mobilize a nuclear-powered carrier to test its ability to quickly deploy
forces should North Korea invade. About 26,000 U.S. troops and an unspecified
number of South Korean troops participate in the exercise.
The allies say the annual exercise is purely defensive, but North Korea views it
as a preparation for invasion. The two Koreas are technically in a state of war,
as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
"Our revolutionary forces are closely monitoring every move the bellicose forces
make," the Cabinet paper said. "If the bellicose forces set the fire of North
Korea invasion, our revolutionary forces will deal a merciless and powerful blow
that the invaders would have never experienced."
Earlier this week, North Korea called general-level talks with the U.S.-led
United Nations Command in South Korea, which oversees the ceasefire along the
inter-Korean border, to protest the joint war drill. In two rounds of talks on
Monday and Friday, North Korea strongly demanded the military exercise be
canceled.
North Korea also made clear that it will launch what it claims is a satellite.
South Korea and the U.S. believe the launch may be a cover for test-firing a
long-range missile that can theoretically reach Alaska or Hawaii, and have
threatened sanctions.
Pyongyang also warned on Thursday it cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean
passenger flights in its airspace.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)