Pyongyang rejects Seoul'sproposal as a 'crafty trick'
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2013, Monday
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NORTH Korea has rebuffed a South Korean proposal to resolve rising tensions through dialogue, dismissing it as a "crafty trick."
Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for weeks, with Pyongyang threatening to attack Seoul and Washington for conducting joint military drills and for supporting UN sanctions imposed on North Korea for a February nuclear test.
While the threats are largely seen as rhetoric, United States and South Korean officials have said they believe North Korea may test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the US territory of Guam.
Pyongyang also took a direct shot at Seoul by pulling more than 50,000 North Korean workers from their joint factory park in the border city of Kaesong and denying South Koreans access to the complex just north of the demilitarized zone.
The move has brought the South Korean-run factories to a standstill, threatening a shutdown of the last joint project left between the two countries.
Last Thursday, Seoul pressed Pyongyang to discuss restarting operations at the factory park. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has promoted seeking peace with North Korea, a change in policy from the hard-line stance of her predecessor Lee Myung-bak.
But yesterday, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Pyongyang had no intention of talking with South Korea unless it abandoned its confrontational posture.
South Korea's presidential Blue House said North Korea's rejection of its dialogue offer was "very regrettable." A statement urged North Korea to take responsible measures to help relieve difficulties facing South Koreans working at the joint factory park.
North Korea, which was preparing to celebrate the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung today, reiterated that it had no intention of abandoning its atomic arms programs.
"We will expand in quantity our nuclear weapons capability, which is the treasure of a unified Korea ... that we would never barter at any price," Kim Young Nam, North Korea's titular head of state, told a gathering of officials and service personnel applauding Kim Il Sung yesterday.
Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for weeks, with Pyongyang threatening to attack Seoul and Washington for conducting joint military drills and for supporting UN sanctions imposed on North Korea for a February nuclear test.
While the threats are largely seen as rhetoric, United States and South Korean officials have said they believe North Korea may test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the US territory of Guam.
Pyongyang also took a direct shot at Seoul by pulling more than 50,000 North Korean workers from their joint factory park in the border city of Kaesong and denying South Koreans access to the complex just north of the demilitarized zone.
The move has brought the South Korean-run factories to a standstill, threatening a shutdown of the last joint project left between the two countries.
Last Thursday, Seoul pressed Pyongyang to discuss restarting operations at the factory park. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has promoted seeking peace with North Korea, a change in policy from the hard-line stance of her predecessor Lee Myung-bak.
But yesterday, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Pyongyang had no intention of talking with South Korea unless it abandoned its confrontational posture.
South Korea's presidential Blue House said North Korea's rejection of its dialogue offer was "very regrettable." A statement urged North Korea to take responsible measures to help relieve difficulties facing South Koreans working at the joint factory park.
North Korea, which was preparing to celebrate the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung today, reiterated that it had no intention of abandoning its atomic arms programs.
"We will expand in quantity our nuclear weapons capability, which is the treasure of a unified Korea ... that we would never barter at any price," Kim Young Nam, North Korea's titular head of state, told a gathering of officials and service personnel applauding Kim Il Sung yesterday.
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