(ROUNDUP) N.K. cuts off inter-Korean hotline as war drill begins in South

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea severed the last inter-Korean military hotline Monday in protest against an ongoing South Korea-U.S. war drill and warned any outside attempt to intercept a satellite it plans to launch would prompt a war.

The North Korean announcement forced hundreds of South Koreans to cancel their
trip to an inter-Korean industrial complex in the communist state. Hundred others
remain there.
"It is nonsensical to maintain normal communications channel at a time when the
South Korean puppets are getting frantic with the above-said war exercises,
leveling guns at fellow countrymen in league with foreign forces," a spokesman
for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by
the North's Korean Central News Agency.
"As an immediate measure we will enforce a more strict military control and cut
off the north-south military communications," the military spokesman said.
South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual Key Resolve and Foal
Eagle exercise on Monday, mobilizing more than 25,000 U.S. troops, a
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers.
The North ordered its entire military to be fully combat ready, saying the joint
military exercise is aimed at launching a "second Korean War."
No official communications channel remains between the two Koreas. The military
hotline North Korea cut off earlier in the day was the only official inter-Korean
communications channel that remained open after several others were closed by
Pyongyang in protest against Seoul's hardline policy last year. The closure will
continue until the joint war exercise ends on March 20, the military spokesman
said.
South Korea demanded the North immediately withdraw the decision.
"Our government has been dealing with (North Korea's recent measures) with
patience," Seoul's unification ministry spokesman, Kim Ho-nyoun, said. "We demand
that North Korea immediately stop its denunciations (of South Korea) and
tension-raising behavior."
South Koreans are allowed to cross the border only after North Korea is notified
of their trip through the military hotline.
About 700 people scheduled to visit Kaesong on Monday have canceled their trips.
It was not yet known whether 573 South Koreans currently staying at the Kaesong
industrial complex will be allowed to recross the border. Starting at 3 p.m.,
scores of people are scheduled to return, the spokesman said.
The complex in Kaesong, several kilometers north of the inter-Korean border and
near the west coast, is a major economic project built after the first
South-North summit in 2000. More than 90 South Korean firms operate in Kaesong,
producing kitchenware, watches and clothes with some 38,200 North Korean
employees.
North Korea also warned it will retaliate if anyone tries to shoot down a
satellite it plans to launch, saying interfering with the country's peaceful
space activity would mean war.
Pyongyang is believed to be assembling a rocket at a missile base on its eastern
coast, presumed by neighboring states to be preparations for a long-range missile
test.
The latest statement appeared to be an indication that North Korea may try to
launch the supposed satellite while the joint drill is under way.
The unification ministry spokesman said the launch seems "imminent."
North Korea also warned last week that it cannot ensure the safety of South
Korean passenger planes in its airspace. South Korean military officials suspect
the move is aimed at clearing up its airspace before its planned launch.
Analysts said North Korea's latest coercive measures are aimed at pressuring the
Lee Myung-bak government into changing its hardline policy and the new U.S.
administration into quickly starting dialogue with Pyongyang.
A new U.S. special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is visiting Seoul as
part of an Asian tour that also took him to Beijing and Tokyo to discuss North
Korean issues.
"North Korea believes the U.S. has no other choice but to hold dialogue. So it's
saying, 'Let us talk before the situation gets worse," Hong Hyun-ik, an analyst
with the independent Sejong Institute in Seoul, said.
"Toward South Korea, it is getting ready for a military action. For North Korea,
military clashes do not mean the loss of lives but the effects it will produce --
to strengthen internal control and further pressure South Korea into abandoning
its policy," Hong said.
Inter-Korean relations dipped to the lowest point in decades after Lee took
office about a year ago, adopting a tougher stance on North Korea's nuclear
program and withdrawing Seoul's unconditional aid to the North.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)