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North Korea Ups Defiance With Armistice Threat
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North
Korea is still on the path of military defiance
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Pyongyang,
February 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - North Korea
Tuesday, February 18, threatened to pull out of the armistice that
ended the Korean War as South Korea and the United States prepared to
launch major military exercises.
Amid
a four-month nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula, the North's
threat was widely seen as a response to the announcement Monday of
U.S.-South Korea war games scheduled for next month.
"The
North has never been happy with the Armistice Agreement and has said
it would not recognize it in the past," a South Korean government
official said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
statement from North Korea's army accused the United States of
repeated violations of the agreement.
"If
the U.S. side continues violating and misusing the armistice agreement
as it pleases, there will be no need for the DPRK (North Korea) to
remain bound to the AA (armistice agreement) uncomfortably," said
the statement attributed to a spokesman for the Korean People's Army.
"The
future development will entirely depend on the attitude of the U.S.
side," the spokesman said, in a statement carried by the official
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The
U.S. military, for its part, declined to comment on the statement, but
according to a senior military official it contained nothing new.
"North
Korea said in 1994 they were no longer bound by the Armistice
Agreement," the official said.
The
Armistice Agreement, signed between the armies of the United Nations
and its Korean War enemies, the Chinese and North Korean armies, is a
ceasefire accord between combatants and not a treaty between nations.
North
Korea has long denounced the agreement and has sought a peace treaty
with the United States. Since the nuclear crisis erupted in October,
Pyongyang has been asking for a non-aggression pact with Washington.
U.S.
authorities said Monday that annual U.S.-South Korean joint military
exercises would take place from March 4 to April 2 on the Korean
peninsula.
North
Korea routinely denounces military drills in South Korea as
preparations for an invasion and experts said this time the
denunciations would be even more strident.
An
invitation was sent Monday to North Korea to send observers to the
exercises, said a South Korean government official.
"The
statement about the armistice agreement seems to be their
response," said the official, who declined to be named.
U.S.
officials refused to link the war games to the nuclear crisis
simmering since October, describing them as purely defensive and
designed to improve the ability of allied forces to defend South Korea
against "external aggression."
In
another move denounced by North Korea, the United States has ordered
12 B-52 bombers and an equal number of B-1 bombers to prepare to move
to the region.
Japanese
media reported Sunday that the United States was planning to boost its
military forces there with fears rising over North Korea's nuclear
weapons program.
North
Korea Friday accused the United States of violating the accord by
building up troops inside the Demilitarized Zone that has divided the
Korean peninsula since the end of the war in 1953.
"At
a time when the situation on the Korean peninsula is getting extremely
tense due to the U.S. nuclear racket, the U.S. side is contemplating
about the additional deployment of huge forces including aircraft
carriers and strategic bombers in and around the Korean peninsula in
violation of the AA," the North Korean army statement said.
"The
situation is, therefore, getting more serious as the days go by as it
is putting its plan for pre-emptive attacks on the DPRK into practice
with increased zeal."
The
United States has 37,000 troops in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan.
Current
U.S. strategy towards the Korean crisis is dominated by fear that any
precipitate action to stop Pyongyang pursuing a nuclear arms program -
either by pre-emptive strike or economic sanctions - could trigger a
violent response. The North has a vast battery of artillery within
easy striking distance of Seoul, and is believed to have a missile
capable of hitting Japan, according to The Guardian.
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