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| / AFP-Yonhap |
North Korea has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council, demanding the U.S. military in South Korea must leave.
Amb. Ja Song-nam, chief of North Korea's mission to the U.N., reportedly sent the English letter last Tuesday, along with a statement that Pyongyang's foreign ministry issued the previous day on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. military stationed in South Korea, according to a media report.
In the letter, Ja said the U.S. military in South Korea is "destabilizing the divided Korean Peninsula" and demanded the military's withdrawal. He said the joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea "have become a main factor of aggravating confrontation and distrust not only between the North and the U.S. but also between the two Koreas."
The letter said the U.S. "has sought a pretext for arms buildup, pursuant to its ‘strategy of rebalancing forces' in the Asia-Pacific to dominate the world," which it pointed out as a reason why the U.S. "has periodically staged provocative military actions to amp up tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
"If the U.S. does not withdraw its armed forces from South Korea and continues to wage provocative military actions against the North Korea, it may lead to another incident of unknown origin that could trigger an armed conflict, for which the U.S. will be held fully and seriously accountable," the letter added.
Since the end of the Korean War (1950-53), the U.S. military has been stationed in the South to prevent possible aggression from the North. About 28,500 American troops are now stationed.
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