North Korea threatened the US and South Korea yesterday with a “physical response” to planned weekend naval exercises as tensions with Pyongyang rose in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the North.
In Vietnam for a Southeast Asian regional security forum, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the ship incident, the upcoming military drills and the imposition of new US sanctions against the North.
The spokesman for the North Korean delegation to the talks, Ri Tong-il, repeated Pyongyang’s denial of responsibility for the March sinking of the ship that killed 46 South Korean sailors and said the upcoming military drills were a violation of its sovereignty that harkened back to the days of 19th-century “gunboat diplomacy.”
The exercises will be “another expression of hostile policy against” North Korea, Ri told reporters in Hanoi. “There will be physical response against the threat imposed by the United States militarily.”
Clinton responded by saying the US was willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but that this type of threat only heightens tensions. Progress in the short term seems unlikely, given the circumstances, she said.
“It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbors and the larger region,” she told reporters. “But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises ... that the United States stands in firm support of the defense of South Korea and we will continue to do so.”
Shortly before Ri spoke, Clinton had lashed out against belligerent acts by the North, warning that it must reverse a “campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior” if it wants improved relations with its neighbors and the US.
She said stability in the region, particularly on the Korean Peninsula, depends in large part on convincing an “isolated and belligerent” North Korea to alter course and return to nuclear disarmament talks.
Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean Peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behavior, Clinton told the gathering of top officials from ASEAN and the US, China, Japan, North and South Korea and Russia.
In addition to North Korea’s behavior and its nuclear program, Clinton raised concerns about potential atomic collaboration between the North and Myanmar, which is restricted by UN agreements. Numerous reports in recent months have suggested that Myanmar’s military rulers are attempting to develop nuclear weapons with North Korean help.
Clinton said “recent events” had called into question Myanmar’s pledges to abide by its international commitments, including UN sanctions, the requirements of its nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“It is critical that Burma [Myanmar] hear from you, its neighbors, about the need to comply with” those obligations, Clinton told the forum.
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