ID :
89458
Fri, 11/13/2009 - 15:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/89458
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea threatens military actions against South Korea 'from now on'
(ATTN: MODIFIES headline, lead, UPDATES with details)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned Friday it will take "merciless
military measures" to protect a self-claimed border in the Yellow Sea and
reasserted South Korea will pay dearly for a recent skirmish there.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said the country's military sent a message
to the South, warning actions will be taken "from this moment on" to protect what
it claims should be the inter-Korean border in the western waters.
The navies of the Koreas briefly exchanged gunfire on Tuesday after a North
Korean patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto sea border drawn
by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The
North disputes the border and demands that it be drawn further south. Two earlier
skirmishes there in 1999 and 2002 had turned bloody.
"It is a shameless political provocation to insist on useless military attempts
to keep the illegal 'Northern Limit Line' despite the changes in the times," said
the message attributed to a North Korean general who represents Pyongyang's
delegation to inter-Korean general-level military talks.
"In a reminder that there only exists the maritime demarcation line drawn by us
in Korea's western sea, our merciless military actions will be taken to protect
it from this moment on," the unidentified general warned.
The threat comes as U.S. President Barack Obama has just begun his first Asia
trip that ends in South Korea next week, with North Korea's nuclear program high
on the agenda. Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy,
is expected to travel to North Korea for rare bilateral negotiations on the
nuclear dispute.
The two-minute skirmish Tuesday reportedly left one North Korean sailor dead and
three others wounded. The South suffered no casualties.
North Korea has claimed innocence, saying South Korea's hardline military
initiated the premeditated clash to thwart the mood for dialogue in the region.
The North Korean patrol boat was on routine duty when the gunfire erupted from
the South, it had claimed.
"The South will pay a dear price" for initiating the skirmish, the general said
in the message.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned Friday it will take "merciless
military measures" to protect a self-claimed border in the Yellow Sea and
reasserted South Korea will pay dearly for a recent skirmish there.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said the country's military sent a message
to the South, warning actions will be taken "from this moment on" to protect what
it claims should be the inter-Korean border in the western waters.
The navies of the Koreas briefly exchanged gunfire on Tuesday after a North
Korean patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto sea border drawn
by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The
North disputes the border and demands that it be drawn further south. Two earlier
skirmishes there in 1999 and 2002 had turned bloody.
"It is a shameless political provocation to insist on useless military attempts
to keep the illegal 'Northern Limit Line' despite the changes in the times," said
the message attributed to a North Korean general who represents Pyongyang's
delegation to inter-Korean general-level military talks.
"In a reminder that there only exists the maritime demarcation line drawn by us
in Korea's western sea, our merciless military actions will be taken to protect
it from this moment on," the unidentified general warned.
The threat comes as U.S. President Barack Obama has just begun his first Asia
trip that ends in South Korea next week, with North Korea's nuclear program high
on the agenda. Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy,
is expected to travel to North Korea for rare bilateral negotiations on the
nuclear dispute.
The two-minute skirmish Tuesday reportedly left one North Korean sailor dead and
three others wounded. The South suffered no casualties.
North Korea has claimed innocence, saying South Korea's hardline military
initiated the premeditated clash to thwart the mood for dialogue in the region.
The North Korean patrol boat was on routine duty when the gunfire erupted from
the South, it had claimed.
"The South will pay a dear price" for initiating the skirmish, the general said
in the message.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
