Kim Jong-il meets with Hyundai official
- Source: Global Times
- [07:38 August 17 2009]
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By Sun Wei
North Korea took a sharp turn yesterday following its recent conciliatory tone on the US and South Korea, threatening nuclear action in response to an upcoming military drill between the allies.
“Should the US imperialists and (South Korean President) Lee Myung-bak’s group threaten the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with nukes, we will retaliate against them with nukes,” the Korean Central News Agency yesterday quoted a spokesman for Pyongyang’s military as saying.
“The US imperialists and the Lee Myung-bak group should clearly understand that it is the iron will and resolute stand of the Korean People’s Army to go into action any time to mercilessly wipe out aggressors,” the spokesman said, denouncing the exercises starting today as “maneuvers for a nuclear war” against the North.
“It is a routine criticism the North addressed on the annual joint military drill,” Lü Chao, an expert on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, adding that the hostility doesn’t indicate a significant change in the current situation.
Photo released by Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) central news agency on Aug. 16, 2009 shows Kim Jong Il (C Front), top leader of the DPRK, and Chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group Hyun Jung-eun (L, front) posing for a picture in Pyongyang, capital of DPRK. (Xinhua/KCNA)
Seoul and Washington said the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drill, which starts to-day and lasts until August 27, is defensive in nature. They informed the North last month.
The joint military drill, which will involve 10,000 US soldiers and an unspecified number of South Korean troops, is designed to improve the allies’ ability to defend South Korea from attack.
Lee called Saturday for talks with North Korea aimed at ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, as well as making cuts in conventional weapons.
“Nuclear weapons do not guarantee North Korea’s security,” Lee said in a speech marking Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, emphasizing, together with denuclearization, that a reduction of conventional weapons of the two must be discussed.
An international program aimed at helping develop the North’s devastated economy and improving the living standards of North Koreans would then be put into practice, he added.
“It is the first time Lee has called for a mutual cut in conventional weapons,” Lü said. “But it seems that the North didn’t think highly of Lee’s well-meaning statement.”
More than 600,000 South Korean soldiers, backed by 28,500 US troops, have been deployed to the southern part of the peninsula to counter potential threats from the North’s 1.1 million-strong military.
“The South needs to show much more sincerity to win the North’s trust,” Lü said, adding that Lee didn’t mention the agreements reached at previous North-South summits.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il finally met with Hyundai’s president and chairwoman, Hyun Jung-eun, yesterday after she extended her stay in North Korea for a fifth time since arriving in Pyongyang one week ago, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
Hyun went to Pyongyang for what was supposed to be a three-day visit to secure the release of an employee who had been held there since March 30.
The employee, Yu Seong-jin, returned home Thursday, raising hopes of better cross-border relations after 18 months of hostility, according to AFP.
