North Korea announced yesterday it was scrapping agreements with South Korea on easing military tensions, accusing Seoul of pushing relations to the brink of war.
Pyongyang said all political and military agreements would be nullified, including one covering their Yellow Sea border — the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.
The statement from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a state body, heightened tensions after the North’s army this month threatened an “all-out confrontational posture” against Seoul.
South Korea stepped up border monitoring and vowed to respond firmly to any violation, but said no unusual activities have been detected.
‘DEEP REGRET’
South Korea’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, expressed “deep regret.”
Raising tension between the two Koreas “is not desirable for settling peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as well as throughout the world,” it said.
“The confrontation between the north and the south in the political and military fields has been put to such extremes that inter-Korean relations have reached the brink of a war,” the North’s statement said.
It blasted the conservative South Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak for “ruthlessly scrapping” pacts reached at summits in 2000 and 2007.
Lee, who took office a year ago, rolled back the “sunshine” engagement policy of his liberal predecessors and said he would review the summit pacts.
‘TRAITORS’
“The group of traitors has already reduced all the agreements reached between the north and the south in the past to dead documents,” the committee said in its statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. “Under such situation it is self-evident that there is no need for the DPRK [North Korea] to remain bound to those north-south agreements.”
Some analysts believe the North is trying to ensure it remains a diplomatic priority for the new US government.
But others, like Paik Hak-soon of the Sejong Institute think tank, said armed clashes may break out soon.
“This is something bad. The North is apparently paving the way for military provocations,” Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University, told AFP. “It is also seeking to shift responsibility for a possible military clash to the South.”
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