S. Korean president says N. Korea must stop threatening civilians

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, March 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Friday that
North Korea should stop threatening his country's civilians, pronouncing that the
communist country has fully magnified its military menace.
The comments at the commencement ceremony of a naval academy, about 300
kilometers south of Seoul, came after Pyongyang restricted hundreds of South
Koreans from leaving a joint industrial complex in the North's borderline city of
Kaesong early this week.
South Korean commercial airlines continue to divert their flights further south
in the East Sea after North Korea's warning last week that it would not ensure
their safety as long as the March 9-20 South Korea-U.S. military drill continues.
"North Korea is not hesitating to make threats against civilians," Lee said,
according to his speech released by the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul.
"North Korea is threatening us in all areas, including land, sea and air," he
said, calling on Pyongyang to "abide by the mutual promise to uphold the peace
and stability on the Korean Peninsula."
The relations between the Koreas degraded to the lowest point in a decade after
the conservative leader took office in Seoul last year with a tough stance on
Pyongyang. North Korea has reacted bitterly, denouncing him as a traitor trying
to topple its regime.
The two sides 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
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