N. Korea threatens South with war cry
Source: Agencies |
January 25, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTH Korea threatened South Korea with war yesterday after Seoul warned it would launch a pre-emptive strike if the North was preparing a nuclear attack.
The North's military said it would take prompt and decisive military action against any South Korean attempt to violate its dignity and sovereignty and would blow up major targets in the South, including its command center.
"Our revolutionary armed forces will regard the scenario for 'pre-emptive strike,' which the South Korean puppet authorities adopted as a 'state policy,' as an open declaration of war," the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea's warning came in response to the South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's remarks last week that the South should launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if there was a clear indication it was preparing a nuclear attack.
A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae dismissed the North's statement yesterday as a predictable reaction.
Kim made similar remarks in 2008 when he was chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, prompting North Korea to threaten South Korea with destruction.
Analysts in South Korea said the North's latest statement reflected its intolerance of any challenge to its own security and leader Kim Jong Il but that the war of words was unlikely to derail attempts to improve relations.
"The North has sent a clear message that it was ready for cooperation with South Korea, but it won't tolerate it if South Korea touches on the prestige of its leader or its system," said analyst Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank near Seoul.
Last week, the two Koreas held talks on developing their joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, the most prominent symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
On Friday, North Korea unexpectedly offered to hold discussions between military officers in Kaesong tomorrow to discuss border crossings, customs, and the use of mobile phones and the Internet for South Korean companies in the complex.
South Korea plans to accept the North's demand for dialogue but ask Pyongyang to set another date as the two sides had already agreed to meet on February 1 in Kaesong to discuss the complex.
More than 110 South Korean factories at Kaesong employ some 42,000 North Korean workers.
The North's military said it would take prompt and decisive military action against any South Korean attempt to violate its dignity and sovereignty and would blow up major targets in the South, including its command center.
"Our revolutionary armed forces will regard the scenario for 'pre-emptive strike,' which the South Korean puppet authorities adopted as a 'state policy,' as an open declaration of war," the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea's warning came in response to the South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's remarks last week that the South should launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if there was a clear indication it was preparing a nuclear attack.
A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae dismissed the North's statement yesterday as a predictable reaction.
Kim made similar remarks in 2008 when he was chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, prompting North Korea to threaten South Korea with destruction.
Analysts in South Korea said the North's latest statement reflected its intolerance of any challenge to its own security and leader Kim Jong Il but that the war of words was unlikely to derail attempts to improve relations.
"The North has sent a clear message that it was ready for cooperation with South Korea, but it won't tolerate it if South Korea touches on the prestige of its leader or its system," said analyst Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank near Seoul.
Last week, the two Koreas held talks on developing their joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, the most prominent symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
On Friday, North Korea unexpectedly offered to hold discussions between military officers in Kaesong tomorrow to discuss border crossings, customs, and the use of mobile phones and the Internet for South Korean companies in the complex.
South Korea plans to accept the North's demand for dialogue but ask Pyongyang to set another date as the two sides had already agreed to meet on February 1 in Kaesong to discuss the complex.
More than 110 South Korean factories at Kaesong employ some 42,000 North Korean workers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
