North Korea put its armed forces on standby for war yesterday and threatened retaliation against anyone seeking to stop the regime from launching a satellite into space. Pyongyang also cut off a military hotline with South Korea, causing a complete shutdown of their border and stranding hundreds of South Koreans working in an industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
Yesterday’s warning came as US and South Korean troops began annual war games, exercises the North has condemned as preparation for an invasion.
Analysts say the regime is trying to grab US President Barack Obama’s attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy.
The North also indicated it was pushing ahead with plans to fire a communications satellite into space, a provocative launch neighboring governments believe could be a cover for a missile test.
US and Japanese officials have suggested they could shoot down a North Korean missile if necessary, further incensing Pyongyang.
“Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war,” the general staff of the North’s military said in a statement carried yesterday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Any interception will draw “a just retaliatory strike operation not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds” of the US, Japan and South Korea, it said.
The North has ordered military personnel “fully combat ready” for war, KCNA said in a separate dispatch.
Obama’s special envoy on North Korea again urged Pyongyang not to fire a missile, which he said would be an “extremely ill-advised” move.
“Whether they describe it as a satellite launch or something else makes no difference” since both would violate a UN Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity, Stephen Bosworth told reporters after talks with his South Korean counterpart.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae downplayed the North’s threats as “rhetoric,” but said the country’s military was ready to deal with any contingencies.
Analysts say a satellite or missile launch could occur late this month or early next month when the North’s new legislature, elected on Sunday, is expected to convene its first session to confirm Kim Jong-il as leader.
Severing the military hot line for the duration of the 12-day joint US-South Korean military exercises leaves the two Koreas without any means of communication at a time when an accidental skirmish could develop into a full-blown battle.
The two Koreas use the hot line to exchange information about goods and people crossing into Kaesong. Its suspension halted traffic and stranded about 570 South Koreans who were working in Kaesong. About 80 had planned to return to the South yesterday but were stuck overnight since they cannot travel after nightfall.
Earlier, some 700 South Koreans who intended to go to Kaesong yesterday were unable to cross the border, the Unification Ministry said. All South Koreans in Kaesong are safe, the ministry said as it called on Pyongyang to restore the hot line immediately.
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