North Steps Up Criticism of South
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Seoul has dismissed Pyongyang's allegation that South Korea could strike North Korea's nuclear facilities in a preemptive attack.
The reaction came after North Korea demanded an apology in an official letter to South Korea, Saturday, for a senior military official's remarks about a possible ``preemptive'' strike on the North. It urged Seoul to immediately retract the remarks.
The North threatened to cancel inter-Korean dialogue if there was no convincing explanation within three days.
Discussions have been underway at the Ministry of Defense on whether to send a letter stating that the North misinterpreted the official's remarks.
The North Korean military said ``these outbursts are the gravest challenge ever in the history of the inter-Korean relations and a reckless provocation just short of a declaration of war.''
It threatened to ``counter the slightest move for a 'pre-emptive attack' with more rapid and powerful pre-emptive attacks of its own.''
The North Korean demand came a day after it test-fired several short-range missiles off the West Coast, apparently to protest the Lee Myung-bak administration's hardening policy toward the Communist country.
In a National Assembly confirmation hearing last Wednesday, Gen. Kim Tae-young, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said: ``The important thing is that we have to find the enemy (North Korea)'s nuclear facilities and strike the area.''
Kim was answering a question by a lawmaker of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) who asked: ``What are our countermeasures if North Korea attacks the South with small-sized nuclear weapons?''
A government official said ``JCS Chief Kim did not use the term ``preemptive strike,'' so I don't understand what remark we should withdraw.'' He stressed that the North's claim was false.
In another statement, the North Korean Navy accused the South of recently infiltrating dozens of warships into its waters across the disputed sea border ― the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
Seoul downplayed the statement. ``There is no necessity for the Seoul government to further discuss the issue because its position on the NLL remains firm,'' Kim Hyong-ki, the spokesman of the defense ministry, said over the weekend.
Pyongyang has insisted that five or six South Korean warships have violated the border daily over the past few weeks.
North Korea has not recognized the NLL, drawn unilaterally by the United States-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Experts regard the recent North Korean stance as a strategy to estimate future reactions and defense policies of the conservative Lee administration, which is turning away from the engagement policies of the liberal Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung governments.
Many North Korea experts here predict that April, the crabbing season, will be a crucial period for the Korean Peninsula.
Around this time each year, tension mounts around the NLL off the West Coast as many South and North Korean ships compete to grab as many crabs as possible.
President Lee and U.S. President George W. Bush will also hold their first summit. An agreement to further their alliance might anger North Korea, they predicted. There is a strong possibility that the two sides may discuss and agree on sensitive issues such as the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative and a missile defense system.
Both Koreas must complete talks at least by the middle of April on Seoul's provision of fertilizer so that the North can increase its rice harvest.
Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yu Myung-hwan pressed the North to resume the six-party talks next month to complete talks on denuclearization by August.
Yu said that unless the agreement is reached by August, the Bush administration may not be able to implement its agreements. The U.S. presidential election is to be held in November.