Pyongyang intensifies criticism on military drill

By Lee Min-hyung

North Korea is stepping up criticism of the South for carrying out an ongoing annual military drill as planned, the North’s mouthpiece, the Rodong Sinmun, reported Monday.

“The Seoul government has scrapped the high-level talks by seeking to fight with the North. The South will pay the price for firing (during the drill),” it said.

The two Koreas earlier agreed to hold high-level dialogue between late October and early November.

But that meeting did not take place amid increasing military tensions, with activists – led by North Korean defectors and conservative civic groups – having recently sent balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

The newspaper said the “Defense of the Nation” drill is a scheme to break off relations between the two Koreas, arguing it has deteriorated the already strained ties between the two countries.

The drill has been conducted on an annual basis since 1996 to bolster the South’s defense posture against possible military provocations or all-out war with the North.

This year’s 11-day drill began Nov. 10.

Friction between the two Koreas intensified from the first day of the drill, with South Korean troops firing warning shots toward North Korean soldiers approaching the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) near the border city of Paju, north of Seoul. Soldiers from the North did not fire back in response.

The North has since ratcheted up provocative rhetoric against the South, calling the drill a practice for invasion.

Last week, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency issued a warning over the exercise.

The South has been calling for an apology from the North for its torpedoing of the warship Cheonan four years ago, leaving 46 South Korean sailors dead.