John
12-24-2010, 05:18 PM
North Korea has threatened to launch a "sacred war" against South Korea as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula.
The threat from the North comes amid South Korea's largest ever live-fire military exercises near the heavily fortified border.
North Korea says it is ready to launch the "sacred war", accusing South Korea of exacerbating tensions on the peninsula.
The North's state media reports that defence chief Kim Yong Chun made the remarks during a national meeting in the capital of Pyongyang.
The Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea is "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" because South Korea is deliberately pushing the peninsula to the brink of a war.
The North, which has actively pursued a covert atomic programme also noted it has nuclear capabilities.
North Korea's anger has been piqued by South Korea's staging of military drills near a front-line island Pyongyang attacked last month.
Earlier in the week, however, North Korea said it would not deign to respond to the provocation.
The drills, at mountainous training grounds about 20 miles from the Koreas' heavily fortified border, signalled South Korea's determination to demonstrate and hone its military strength at the risk of further escalation with North Korea.
International observers believe the military show of force was primarily to reassure South Koreans rather than threaten North Korea.
President Lee Myung-bak, while separately visiting a front-line army base near their eastern land border, vowed a strong response to any new attacks by the North.
"I had thought that we could safeguard peace if we had patience, but that wasn't the case," Lee told troops.
"Now we should have a strong response to (North Korea's provocations), so that we can safeguard peace, deter aggression and prevent a war."
The military drills lasted less than 45 minutes and were the biggest-ever wintertime air and ground firing exercises, in terms of the number of weapons mobilised and fired officials said.
"The latest drills were aimed at bolstering South Korea's capability of destroying the enemy at a single stroke by paralysing its combat capability with our powerful firepower and manoeuvring equipment," Brig. Gen. Joo Eun-sik said.
Exactly one month ago, routine South Korean live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea triggered a shower of North Korean artillery that killed two marines and two construction workers.
It was the first military attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce - the two Koreas remain technically at war because the conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
North Korea, which claims the waters around the South Korean-held island lying just seven miles from its shores as its territory, accused the South of sparking the exchange by ignoring Pyongyang's warnings against staging the live-fire drills near their disputed maritime border.
The military tension over the past month has soared, and comes on the heels of the March sinking of a South Korean warship that a Seoul-led international investigation blamed on Pyongyang, but which North Korea denies.
Meanwhile, a former US ambassador who has returned from a peacekeeping trip to the Korean peninsula warned that the military exercises might inflame the region.
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said that tensions between North and South Korea could flare if the South continues military drills and the North abandons intentions to refrain from retaliation.
The unofficial envoy said "that diplomacy is needed to get us out of this tinderbox."
Source - Yahoo News.
The threat from the North comes amid South Korea's largest ever live-fire military exercises near the heavily fortified border.
North Korea says it is ready to launch the "sacred war", accusing South Korea of exacerbating tensions on the peninsula.
The North's state media reports that defence chief Kim Yong Chun made the remarks during a national meeting in the capital of Pyongyang.
The Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea is "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" because South Korea is deliberately pushing the peninsula to the brink of a war.
The North, which has actively pursued a covert atomic programme also noted it has nuclear capabilities.
North Korea's anger has been piqued by South Korea's staging of military drills near a front-line island Pyongyang attacked last month.
Earlier in the week, however, North Korea said it would not deign to respond to the provocation.
The drills, at mountainous training grounds about 20 miles from the Koreas' heavily fortified border, signalled South Korea's determination to demonstrate and hone its military strength at the risk of further escalation with North Korea.
International observers believe the military show of force was primarily to reassure South Koreans rather than threaten North Korea.
President Lee Myung-bak, while separately visiting a front-line army base near their eastern land border, vowed a strong response to any new attacks by the North.
"I had thought that we could safeguard peace if we had patience, but that wasn't the case," Lee told troops.
"Now we should have a strong response to (North Korea's provocations), so that we can safeguard peace, deter aggression and prevent a war."
The military drills lasted less than 45 minutes and were the biggest-ever wintertime air and ground firing exercises, in terms of the number of weapons mobilised and fired officials said.
"The latest drills were aimed at bolstering South Korea's capability of destroying the enemy at a single stroke by paralysing its combat capability with our powerful firepower and manoeuvring equipment," Brig. Gen. Joo Eun-sik said.
Exactly one month ago, routine South Korean live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea triggered a shower of North Korean artillery that killed two marines and two construction workers.
It was the first military attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce - the two Koreas remain technically at war because the conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
North Korea, which claims the waters around the South Korean-held island lying just seven miles from its shores as its territory, accused the South of sparking the exchange by ignoring Pyongyang's warnings against staging the live-fire drills near their disputed maritime border.
The military tension over the past month has soared, and comes on the heels of the March sinking of a South Korean warship that a Seoul-led international investigation blamed on Pyongyang, but which North Korea denies.
Meanwhile, a former US ambassador who has returned from a peacekeeping trip to the Korean peninsula warned that the military exercises might inflame the region.
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said that tensions between North and South Korea could flare if the South continues military drills and the North abandons intentions to refrain from retaliation.
The unofficial envoy said "that diplomacy is needed to get us out of this tinderbox."
Source - Yahoo News.