hankyoreh

North Hwanghae Province

North Korea announced yesterday that it will invalidate all inter-Korean agreements made so far to reduce the political and military standoff between the two Koreas, including one dealing with the maritime border between North and South, and said that South Korea’s “confrontational” policy has driven inter-Korean relations to the brink of war.

In a statement released early in the day by the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (Jo Pyeong Tong), a state body affiliated with the North’s Workers’ Party of Korea in charge of South Korean affairs, North Korea said, “All of the agreements concerning the issue of putting an end to the political and military confrontation between the North and South will be nullified.” North Korea also declared that “the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression, Cooperation and Exchange between the North and the South and the points on the military boundary line in the West Sea stipulated in its appendix will be nullified.”

The statement went on to say that the “the indiscriminate anti-North Korea confrontational maneuvers by the South’s conservative authorities” have “driven inter-Korean relations to the worst possible state, one close to war.”

The CPRF singled out the South Korean government as responsible for the nullification and abandonment of non-aggression pacts made between the two countries, saying that “the regime of Lee Myung-bak mercilessly destroyed and severed the agreements made by the North and the South with reckless remarks about reunification under the ideology of free democracy, a row over human rights, support for the sending of leaflets and (anti-North Korea) broadcasts, and proposals about the ‘preemptive attacks.’”

The statement was largely regarded as a follow-up to a statement made Jan. 17, a spokesperson for the North Korean Army who declared an “all-out confrontational posture” against South Korea.

All of the statements appear to be aimed at pressing South Korea to change its policy on the North and have increased the level of military tension along the Northern Limit Line, the West Sea maritime border that the North does not recognize. Some analysts have even said it is possible that Pyongyang and Seoul have been brought closer to a military clash.

A high-ranking official in the South Korean government said, “The subject of nullification is primarily seen as pointing to the Basic Agreement, which came into force in 1992. Further analysis is needed to determine whether the list of agreements the North plans to nullify includes the ‘Agreement to Prevent Accidental Clashes in the West Sea, to Stop Advertising Activities along the Military Demarcation Line and Remove Advertising Tools,’ which was signed in 2004.”

The official said it is highly likely that the list of agreements the North is planning to nullify does not include either the June 15 and Oct. 4 declarations or the military guarantees on inter-Korean economic cooperation projects such land transportation across the Military Demarcation Line.

In response, the South’s Ministry of Unification expressed “deep regret” about North Korea’s nullification of the agreements.

Won Tae-jae, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, said in a regular press briefing that the “South has defended the Northern Limit Line for approximately 50 years. If North Korea violates it, we will respond sternly.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]