ID :
62840
Thu, 05/28/2009 - 08:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/62840
The shortlink copeid
(LEAD) N. Korean committee reinforces threat against Seoul's PSI participation
(ATTN: UPDATES with English quotes throughout)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean state committee reinforced on Wednesday
a threat made just hours earlier by the country's military against South Korea,
vowing to take "wartime" actions to retaliate against Seoul's participation in an
anti-proliferation campaign.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, an organ that
handles inter-Korean affairs, accused Seoul of "declaring war" by announcing its
participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
Pyongyang "will take such a practical counter-action as in the wartime now that
the South Korean authorities declared a war in wanton violation of its dignity
and sovereignty by fully participating in the PSI," said the statement carried by
the North's Korean Central News Agency.
"The DPRK will deal a decisive and merciless retaliatory blow, no matter from
which place, at any attempt to stop, check and inspect its vessels, regarding it
as a violation of its inviolable sovereignty and territory and a grave
provocation to it," the statement said.
Shortly before the statement, the North's Korean People's Army declared it will
no longer be bound by the Korean armistice and cannot guarantee the safety of
ships sailing near the western sea border.
South Korea announced Tuesday it is joining the PSI, a response to the North's
nuclear test a day earlier. The PSI, a U.S.-led campaign, allows participating
countries to interdict and seize ships and planes suspected of carrying weapons
of mass destruction.
Pyongyang claims South Korea's involvement in the campaign is a violation of the
Korean armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The committee justified its nuclear test, arguing it is "nothing strange and
quite natural for a nuclear weapons state to conduct a nuclear test."
The U.S. and its "followers" are not driven by the purpose of stopping nuclear
proliferation, but by the "black-hearted intention to stifle" North Korea, it
said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean state committee reinforced on Wednesday
a threat made just hours earlier by the country's military against South Korea,
vowing to take "wartime" actions to retaliate against Seoul's participation in an
anti-proliferation campaign.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, an organ that
handles inter-Korean affairs, accused Seoul of "declaring war" by announcing its
participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
Pyongyang "will take such a practical counter-action as in the wartime now that
the South Korean authorities declared a war in wanton violation of its dignity
and sovereignty by fully participating in the PSI," said the statement carried by
the North's Korean Central News Agency.
"The DPRK will deal a decisive and merciless retaliatory blow, no matter from
which place, at any attempt to stop, check and inspect its vessels, regarding it
as a violation of its inviolable sovereignty and territory and a grave
provocation to it," the statement said.
Shortly before the statement, the North's Korean People's Army declared it will
no longer be bound by the Korean armistice and cannot guarantee the safety of
ships sailing near the western sea border.
South Korea announced Tuesday it is joining the PSI, a response to the North's
nuclear test a day earlier. The PSI, a U.S.-led campaign, allows participating
countries to interdict and seize ships and planes suspected of carrying weapons
of mass destruction.
Pyongyang claims South Korea's involvement in the campaign is a violation of the
Korean armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The committee justified its nuclear test, arguing it is "nothing strange and
quite natural for a nuclear weapons state to conduct a nuclear test."
The U.S. and its "followers" are not driven by the purpose of stopping nuclear
proliferation, but by the "black-hearted intention to stifle" North Korea, it
said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
