(LEAD) President calls for calm reaction to N. Korean threats

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SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) --South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called Wednesday
for "calm reactions" to threats by North Korea, which earlier in the day warned
of military action against the South.

"President Lee ordered the related ministries to remain calm in taking
countermeasures to the North's military threats after he received reports on the
statement from the North's military mission to Panmunjom," Lee Dong-kwan, a
spokesman for the presidential office, said.
In its statement, the North Korean mission to Panmunjom, a joint security area
controlled by the divided Koreas, said its country will no longer honor the 1953
armistice that ended the Korean War.
Pyongyang's latest threat was prompted by Seoul's joining of a U.S.-led
anti-proliferation campaign called the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI),
which came as part of its reaction to North Korea's second nuclear test on
Monday.
"They (North Korean military forces) will regard any hostile actions against the
DPRK, including checkup and inspection of its peaceful vessels, as an
unpardonable encroachment on the DPRK's sovereignty and counter them with prompt
and strong military strikes," said the North's statement, carried by the
country's Korean Central News Agency.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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