US warns North Korea against provocations

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right in the front row, and her South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan, at her right, inspect a guard of honor, as South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates follow, during a ceremony at the War Memorial of Korea in central Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times

By Joint Press Corp & Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter

PANMUNJEOM ― Standing by the blue buildings here that straddle the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) bisecting the two Koreas, the top U.S. foreign and security duo ― Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates ― sent a clear message to North Korea Wednesday that the regime must take another path to benefit its people.

The two ministers of the administration of President Barack Obama traveled to this truce village, or the Joint Security Area (JSA), with their South Korean counterparts ― Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Defense Minister Kim Tae-young ― in a show of firm support to South Korea, as tension on the Korean Peninsula has heightened following the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in March in the West Sea.

A Seoul-led multinational investigation team claims a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo to sink the 1,200-ton frigate, killing 46 sailors. The North has denied this.

It was the first time that the foreign and defense ministers from the two governments had visited the border area, the vestige of the 1950-53 Korean War, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). They visited Observation Post Ouellette, 25 kilometers south of the MDL; Freedom House, a pavilion on the southern side of Panmunjeom; and conference building T-2.

“This is my third visit to the DMZ,” Gates said after briefly touring a JSA conference room where the U.S.-led United Nations Command and North Korea hold talks. “In the nearly 20 years since I last climbed that observation tower and looked out across the DMZ, it is stunning how little has changed up there and yet how much South Korea continues to grow and prosper.”

“The North, by contrast, stagnates in isolation and deprivation. And as we saw with the sinking of the Cheonan, it continues its history of unpredictable and, at times, provocative behavior,” he continued. “So we are here today not just to show our appreciation for the vital work U.S., ROK and other forces do in maintaining the armistice, but also to send a strong signal to the North, to the region, and to the world that our commitment to South Korea’s security is steadfast.

Clinton echoed Gates’ calls.

“As we were at the observation house, looking out, what is a thin three-mile separation between the North and the South, it struck me that although it may be a thin line, these two places are worlds apart.”

She said, “There is another way. There is a way that can benefit the people of the North. But until they change direction, the United States stands firmly on behalf of the people and the government of the Republic of Korea.”

The Armistice Agreement between the UNC, China and North Korea was signed in 1953 at Panmunjeom. The two Koreas remain technically at war, and about 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the South as a deterrent against the North.

The area has been the site of numerous major events and conflicts since its establishment in 1953, the first of which was the repatriation of prisoners of war across the Bridge of No Return.

The “axe murder” incident was a high-profile case that heightened tension on the peninsula, when in 1976, two U.S. Army offices, who were pruning a large tree between two UNC checkpoints, were killed by North Korean soldiers wielding axes.

Currently, South Korean troops are mostly in charge of providing security for the JSA.

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