Sabre-rattling continues in row between two Koreas

THE WAR of words between the two Koreas continued to escalate yesterday, with North Korea saying it would tear up military agreements signed with the south, a move widely read as indicating it would shut a joint industrial park, while Seoul staged anti-submarine drills in tense border waters.

An investigation into the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, concluded that it was sunk by a North Korean submarine.

North Korea angrily rejected the accusations, but the incident has sharply raised tensions in a region already jumpy because of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme. There are fears that the war of words could spill over into a more dangerous conflict.

While all-out war is unlikely, there could be more skirmishes along the border, and everyone in the region is fearful of an escalation, as they know the north has nuclear capability, though no one knows for sure if it is capable of successfully firing a nuclear warhead at a significant target.

South Korean public opinion is raging against the North, and the country has stopped nearly all trade with Pyongyang, and also resumed a propaganda war across the 38th Parallel. In downtown Seoul there have been demonstrations, with protesters burning North Korean flags.

The White House has strongly supported the south, its long-term ally, and said that the north must pay the price for reckless military action, but it is also hoping that China, the north’s only significant ally and its main economic supporter, will come on board for efforts to find a peaceful solution. China is said to be reviewing ties with the isolated Stalinist state.

The reaction north of the border has been equally firm. “We will never tolerate the slightest provocations of our enemies, and will answer to that with all-out war,” North Korean Maj Gen Pak Chan Su, told AP Television News (APTN) in Pyongyang.

The army chief of staff also said that North Korea would “completely repeal the military guarantee measures that our army is to enforce related to north-south co- operation exchange”, which could signal a fresh closure of the Kaesong industrial project, where more than 100 South Korean firms use cheap local labour and rent to make consumer goods and has been one of a few legitimate sources of income for the north, worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

South Korea said it was staging naval exercises this week and is expected to ask the UN Security Council to take up the issue.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visits Seoul today for a summit with President Lee Myung-bak, and the two will travel to the resort island of Jeju for a regional summit that also involves Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, where the issue is likely to overshadow trade discussions.