South Korean and US troops went on higher alert yesterday after North Korea announced it was scrapping the armistice that has been in force on the peninsula for more than five decades.
“Surveillance over the North will be stepped up, with more aircraft and personnel mobilized,” Seoul Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae.
North Korea said on Wednesday it was abandoning the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War and warned of a possible military attack on the South, two days after testing an atomic bomb for the second time. It was responding to Seoul’s decision to join a US-led international initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) can involve stopping and searching ships, but South Korea’s participation is largely symbolic.
North Korea, however, said its military would no longer be bound by the truce that ended hostilities in the war, in which the US led a UN force defending the South.
“Any tiny hostile acts against our republic, including the stopping and searching of our peaceful vessels ... will face an immediate and strong military strike in response,” the North Korean military said.
The US still has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.
It was the first time the surveillance alert had been upgraded to stage two since the North’s first nuclear test in October 2006.
Won said surveillance would be focused along the Demilitarized Zone which divides the peninsula, the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom village and the Northern Limit Line — the disputed border in the Yellow Sea.
“We are maintaining a tight defense posture to prevent the North’s military provocations,” he said. “The military will deal sternly with provocative acts.”
The White House said it was the fifth time in 15 years that the North had sought to nullify the armistice.
The US-led UN Command said that it remained committed to the armistice, which “has served as the legal basis for the ceasefire in Korea for more than 55 years and significantly contributes to stability in the region.
“The armistice remains in force and is binding on all signatories, including North Korea,” it said in a statement. “The UN Command will adhere to the terms of the armistice and the mechanisms that support it.”
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