ID :
49694
Mon, 03/09/2009 - 18:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/49694
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea possibly playing up threat against South's joint-military drill: Seoul
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to have inflated its threats to
retaliate against South Korean and U.S. forces if they intercept a planned rocket
launch, a defense spokesman in Seoul said Monday.
The communist state is also refusing to respond to South Korean signals across
inter-Korean communications cables after Pyongyang said it would block them to
protest a joint South Korea-U.S. military drill that kicked off Monday, Won
Tae-jae said.
"(The threat of retaliation) is something we need to examine militarily, but we
believe it to be part of the North's political rhetoric," Won said in a briefing
at the Ministry of National Defense. "We're making full preparations in case the
threat turns out to be true."
North Korea said early Monday it would retaliate against anyone who tries to
shoot down a satellite it plans to launch from its east coast.
The statement came as South Korea and the United States began their annual war
drill on Monday, set to continue until March 20.
"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes
with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," a spokesman for
the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said.
"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the
spokesman said in a statement carried in English by the Korean Central News
Agency.
U.S. and South Korean intelligence sources believe the launch may be a cover for
test-firing a long-range missile that is theoretically capable of striking Alaska
or Hawaii. U.S. and Japanese military officials have suggested they are
considering intercepting if North Korea does launch a missile.
The North also said it will cut off military communications with South Korea, the
last official inter-Korean channel that remains open, during the 12-day joint
drill. Pyongyang ordered its entire military to be fully combat ready, saying the
joint war exercise is aimed at launching a "second Korean War."
Won said there no longer remains any communication line between the Koreas,
adding South Korean options to reach out to the North are "limited."
The Koreas remain in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended
in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to have inflated its threats to
retaliate against South Korean and U.S. forces if they intercept a planned rocket
launch, a defense spokesman in Seoul said Monday.
The communist state is also refusing to respond to South Korean signals across
inter-Korean communications cables after Pyongyang said it would block them to
protest a joint South Korea-U.S. military drill that kicked off Monday, Won
Tae-jae said.
"(The threat of retaliation) is something we need to examine militarily, but we
believe it to be part of the North's political rhetoric," Won said in a briefing
at the Ministry of National Defense. "We're making full preparations in case the
threat turns out to be true."
North Korea said early Monday it would retaliate against anyone who tries to
shoot down a satellite it plans to launch from its east coast.
The statement came as South Korea and the United States began their annual war
drill on Monday, set to continue until March 20.
"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes
with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," a spokesman for
the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said.
"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the
spokesman said in a statement carried in English by the Korean Central News
Agency.
U.S. and South Korean intelligence sources believe the launch may be a cover for
test-firing a long-range missile that is theoretically capable of striking Alaska
or Hawaii. U.S. and Japanese military officials have suggested they are
considering intercepting if North Korea does launch a missile.
The North also said it will cut off military communications with South Korea, the
last official inter-Korean channel that remains open, during the 12-day joint
drill. Pyongyang ordered its entire military to be fully combat ready, saying the
joint war exercise is aimed at launching a "second Korean War."
Won said there no longer remains any communication line between the Koreas,
adding South Korean options to reach out to the North are "limited."
The Koreas remain in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended
in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
