North Korea yesterday accused South Korea of misrepresenting their agreement to defuse tensions and warned that the hard-won deal was being undermined by claims Pyongyang had made an apology for border landmine blasts.
The explosions maimed two South Korean soldiers on patrol last month and triggered a crisis that brought the rivals to the brink of armed conflict.
A deal to de-escalate tensions was reached last week following marathon talks in the border truce village of Panmunjom that committed the Koreas to starting an official dialogue.
However, a spokesman from the North’s National Defense Commission said that Seoul was misrepresenting the agreement and claiming Pyongyang apologized for the explosions.
According to the six-point deal, the North “expressed regret” over the incident, but the commission spokesman said Pyongyang was merely offering condolences to the families of the men who were affected.
“To put it simply, it was no more than saying: ‘I’m sorry about your suffering,’” the official was quoted as saying by the North’s Korean Central News Agency.
The spokesman also attacked the South for conducting a massive joint live-fire drill with the US after the agreement.
“Should the South leave the current situation as it is, the precious sprout for national reconciliation would be nipped by severe frost and the North-South relations would be pushed back to confrontation,” he said. “The South Korean authorities must stop interpreting the deal in a foolish way and refrain from words and acts that threaten hard-won peace.”
South Korea fired back at the North’s criticism, saying the deal was predicated on Pyongyang’s apology.
“This is not a time for back-and-forth over the wording. The two sides should implement the agreement in full faith and move forward,” said Jeong Joon-Hee, spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Unification, which oversees cross-border relations.
The two rivals came close to conflict last month after South Korea, in retaliation over the blasts, switched on banks of giant speakers, which had lain silent for more than a decade, blasting propaganda messages into North Korea.
The North denied any role in the mine blasts and issued an ultimatum for the South to halt its “psychological warfare” or face attack.
The crisis was defused following tense talks, with North Korea expressing “regret” over the incident and the South agreeing to turn off the loudspeakers.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye attributed the deal to her government sticking to its guns, while keeping the door for dialogue open.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a speech to the North’s Central Military Commission last week played up Pyongyang’s role in taking control of the situation and clearing “the dark clouds of war.”
Kim described the agreement as a “crucial landmark occasion” that offered the nations a path to improve relations.
Previous agreements that appeared to offer a new way forward for relations have generally stumbled straight out of the gate.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number