hankyoreh

2007 by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via the Korean News Service shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Il acknowledging applause from soldiers as he inspects the Korean People’s Army Unit 1286. The KCNA announced that North Korea says it is no longer bound to the 1953 Armistice Agreement

In response to the South Korean government’s decision to fully participate in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), North Korea says it cannot guarantee the safe passage of U.S. and South Korean naval ships or civilian shipping vessels in neighboring waters.

North Korea communicated this through a statement by　the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People’s Army on Tuesday, while claiming that the South Korean government’s participation in PSI had driven the situation on the Korean Peninsula to a state of war. North Korea also said this has heightened inter-Korean military tensions and that it would respond to any hostile act, regardless how small, with immediate and powerful military strikes.

In particular, the statement emphasized it could not guarantee the legal status of five islands (Baengnyeong-do, Daecheong-do, Socheong-do, Yeonpyeong-do and U-do) located in what it called North Korea’s territorial waters (of the West Sea), or safe passage of U.S. and South Korean naval ships or civilian shipping vessels in neighboring waters.

The two Koreas have been arguing over the West Sea waters ever since the United Nations forces established the Northern Limit Line (NLL) above the five West Sea islands in 1953 after the Korean War. North Korea presented a maritime demarcation line in 1999, and includes the islands within its territory. Accordingly, naval battles in the West Sea took place in 1999 and 2002.

The statement also said the Armistice Agreement of 1953 forbids the placement of a blockade of any kind by the other side, and because of South Korea’s full participation in PSI, the armistice agreement is longer binding. The statement said from a legal perspective, if the Armistice Agreement has lost its binding force, the Korean Peninsula returns to a state of war, and North Korea’s “revolutionary armed forces” will need to be moved into military readiness as a result. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (Jo Pyeong Tong or the North Korean Workers’ Party organization responsible for dealings with South Korea) also issued a statement Wednesday and said that South Korea’s announcement of its full participation in PSI was a declaration of war. It added North Korea would respond accordingly with practical measures corresponding with those taken in wartime.

Meanwhile, in response to North Korea’s statements, South Korea’s Ministry of Defense is reportedly strengthening their state of preparedness along the NLL, placing one 3,500t destroyer on forward deployment and reinforcing anti-air missiles on Baengnyeong-do and Yeonpyeong-do.

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