Surveillance level raised on North Korea
US and South Korean warships were today put on heightened alert after North Korea declared that it felt no longer bound to the truce that halted fighting in the Korean War.
Military officials said US-South Korean forces had increased surveillance to its second-highest level for the first time since the nuclear test stand-off in 2006.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council continued to discuss its response to Pyongyang’s latest underground nuclear blast and subsequent missile launches. Diplomats have suggested that the 15-member council will go for new sanctions as part of a forthcoming resolution.
Tension on the Korean peninsular has grown throughout the week following Monday’s nuclear test by the North.
South Korea responded by joining the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative - a programme to intercept and search ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation.
This in turn led to an intensification of the war of words, with Pyongyang angrily denouncing plans by South Korea to search suspect ships as tantamount to a “declaration of war”.
As such, it renounced the 1953 truce that ended combat in the Korean War – the two countries are still technically at war having never signed an actual peace treaty.
In a statement yesterday, Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said: “Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots (North Korea is) compelled to take a decisive measure.”
The regime warned that any attempt to stop and board its ships would be seen as a “grave violation”, adding that the US and South Korea should “bear in mind that the (North) has tremendous military muscle and its own method of strike to conquer any targets in its vicinity at one stroke or hit the US on the raw, if necessary.”
Further bellicose statements were issued by the North today.
An editorial in Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, stated: “The Northward invasion scheme by the US and the South Korean puppet regime has exceeded the alarming level. A minor accidental skirmish can lead to nuclear war.”
Fears that the North had restarted its nuclear programme emerged yesterday, with reports that US spy satellites had detected steam rising from its main Yongbyon nuclear plant.
While the two Koreas continued to exchange increasingly hostile barbs, UN members worked on a resolution over Monday’s underground blast.
The explosion – estimated to be the same size as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in Japan during the Second World War – was unanimously condemned by the Security Council.
Washington is calling for a rapid and unified response by the international community that will ensure North Korea faces consequences for its actions.
But Russia is pushing for a Security Council resolution focused on kick-starting the stalled six-nation talks between the North, its neighbours and the US without provoking Pyongyang into further aggressive posturing.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the international community “must not rush to punish North Korea just for punishment’s sake.”
The different approaches may account for the delay in a resolution from the 15-member Security Council.
Ambassadors from the five permanent veto-wielding council members – comprising the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – as well as Japan and South Korea have been engaged in talks over possible action.
A diplomat close to the discussions, speaking under condition of anonymity, said that there was a clear commitment to go with fresh sanctions.
Meanwhile, Japan has indicated that it may impose its own sanctions on North Korea in light of the recent developments.
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