Kim threatens to retaliate over military drills
Source: Agencies |
February 27, 2012, Monday
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NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened a retaliatory strike against South Korea if provoked, state media said yesterday, a day before the start of annual military drills by South Korea and the United States.
South Korean and US officials have said the 12-day, largely computer-simulated war games set to start today are defensive in nature.
The report of the warning came a day after a senior US envoy said ties between the Koreas must improve if the US and North Korea were to achieve real progress in their relationship.
Kim, supreme commander of North Korea's 1.2 million member military, issued the strike order during a visit to frontline units, including one that shelled a South Korean island in 2010, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
"He ordered them to make a powerful retaliatory strike at the enemy, should the enemy intrude even 0.001 millimeter into the waters of the country where its sovereignty is exercised," a KCNA dispatch said.
It did not say when the visit took place.
KCNA said fears of a war on the Korean peninsula had heightened due to the drills, which it called a "new war of aggression."
On Saturday, North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission threatened to wage a "sacred war" over the drills.
Kim also visited the army battalion responsible for the 2010 shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island.
That artillery bombardment, which killed four South Koreans, raised fears of a bigger conflict on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea says that the attack was triggered by South Korea's firing of artillery into its territorial waters, while South Korea responded by saying the firing was only part of routine drills.
On Saturday, US envoy Glyn Davies told reporters in Seoul that he made it clear to North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan at a meeting in Beijing last week that North Korea should improve its relations with South Korea before Pyongyang and Washington can better their relationship.
The talks, aimed at resuming stalled international nuclear disarmament talks, were the first since Kim's father and longtime leader Kim Jong Il died in December.
Kim Jong Un has taken over power by assuming prominent titles previously held by his father.
North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim met China's chief nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun separately on Saturday to discuss the stalled six-nation nuclear talks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Further details were not disclosed.
More than three years have passed since the last six-nation talks, which involve the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
South Korean and US officials have said the 12-day, largely computer-simulated war games set to start today are defensive in nature.
The report of the warning came a day after a senior US envoy said ties between the Koreas must improve if the US and North Korea were to achieve real progress in their relationship.
Kim, supreme commander of North Korea's 1.2 million member military, issued the strike order during a visit to frontline units, including one that shelled a South Korean island in 2010, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
"He ordered them to make a powerful retaliatory strike at the enemy, should the enemy intrude even 0.001 millimeter into the waters of the country where its sovereignty is exercised," a KCNA dispatch said.
It did not say when the visit took place.
KCNA said fears of a war on the Korean peninsula had heightened due to the drills, which it called a "new war of aggression."
On Saturday, North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission threatened to wage a "sacred war" over the drills.
Kim also visited the army battalion responsible for the 2010 shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island.
That artillery bombardment, which killed four South Koreans, raised fears of a bigger conflict on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea says that the attack was triggered by South Korea's firing of artillery into its territorial waters, while South Korea responded by saying the firing was only part of routine drills.
On Saturday, US envoy Glyn Davies told reporters in Seoul that he made it clear to North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan at a meeting in Beijing last week that North Korea should improve its relations with South Korea before Pyongyang and Washington can better their relationship.
The talks, aimed at resuming stalled international nuclear disarmament talks, were the first since Kim's father and longtime leader Kim Jong Il died in December.
Kim Jong Un has taken over power by assuming prominent titles previously held by his father.
North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim met China's chief nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun separately on Saturday to discuss the stalled six-nation nuclear talks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Further details were not disclosed.
More than three years have passed since the last six-nation talks, which involve the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
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