- Nov 4, 1999
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SEOUL (AP) ? North Korea said Friday it is ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea, in an apparent attempt to use the threat of an armed clash to press Seoul to give up its "confrontational" stance.
The communist nation also said it will no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South, raising the prospect for an armed clash along the Yellow Sea boundary ? the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two navies in 1999 and 2002.
South Korea said it regretted the North's latest move and warned it won't tolerate any attempt to violate the border.
Analysts said Pyongyang's threats could signal it is preparing for an armed confrontation, but only as a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Seoul to get the neighbor to soften its hard-line stance ? and attracting President Barack Obama's attention.
"This signals that North Korea will stage a provocation" ? probably near the maritime border, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
USAToday Linky
I find that this will be the norm until the UN starts backing its demands. First we had US in Iraq. Then we had Russia in Georgia. Next we have the conflict with Israel/Palestine. Now we have this.
[edit]Stupid Firefox not spell checking the title input box[/edit]
[update 2-19-09]
Who knew, N.Korea shows no sign of weakening its stance!
SEOUL (AP) ? North Korea stepped up its war rhetoric Thursday, saying its troops are "fully ready" for war with South Korea, just hours before a visit to Seoul by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The North's military accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of using "nonexistent" nuclear and missile threats as a pretext for an invasion and warned it was prepared for an "all-out confrontation."
Linky
[update 2-24-09]
We got a satellite too... or is it just another missile test?
Linky
North Korea said Tuesday it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile.
The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile ? capable of reaching the U.S. ? in coming days, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
North Korea asserted last week it has the right to "space development" ? words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test. In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
[Update 3-6-09]
Your planes are not welcome here! More posturing from the North.
Linky
SEOUL ? South Korean airlines are rerouting their flights away from North Korean airspace, hours after the North threatened Seoul's passenger planes amid heightened tensions on the divided peninsula.
The move ? which will cost carriers thousands of dollars on each flight ? comes after Pyongyang warned in state-run media that it cannot guarantee security for South Korean civil airplanes flying near its airspace and accused the U.S. and South Korea of attempting to provoke a nuclear war with the upcoming joint military drills.
It did not say what kind of danger South Korean planes would face or whether the threat meant the North would shoot down planes.
South Korea has urged the North to immediately retract the threat.
"The military threat against civil airplanes' normal flights is a violation of international norms and an inhumane act that cannot be justified under any circumstances," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told reporters.