North Korea has harsh words for the South

Posted on : 2013-01-26 12:44 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
In response to expanded sanctions, North Korea says it will have no contact with South Koreans

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer

After targeting the US with statements from the foreign ministry (Jan. 23) and the National Defense Commission (Jan. 24) that threatened to conduct a nuclear test, North Korea has set its sights on the South Korean government. A statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) released on Jan. 25 mentioned “strong physical counter-measures.”

“The puppet group of traitors were in a desperate hurry to put into effect the UN sanctions against our Republic. If [South Korea] takes a direct part in the U.N. sanctions, the DPRK will take strong physical counter-measures against it,” the CPRF statement said, according to a report by the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).

“We have already proclaimed that we will respond to provocations with an immediate counterstrike, and that we will answer a war of aggression with a great reunification war of justice,” the statement also said. "Sanctions mean a war and a declaration of war against us.”

This last phrase “sanctions mean a war and a declaration of war against us” was the basic position adopted by the North at the time of the first nuclear test in the spring of 1994. It followed on the heels of a threat to turn Seoul into a sea of fire and was a response to efforts by the Clinton administration to impose UN sanctions on the North. At the time, the situation on the Korean peninsula came dangerously close to war.

North Korea’s talk about declaring war is being seen as a backlash to the so-called “catch-all” clause in UNSC resolution 2078. This clause would strongly limit imports to and exports from North Korea by enabling search and seizure of all items that are suspected to be used in the development of nuclear weapons or missiles.

The sanctions against the North also would implement the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), formerly sponsored by the Bush administration, which calls for monitoring and paying attention to related financial activity. In effect, the sanctions could lead to North Korea being entirely cut off.

“As long as the South Korean puppet group of traitors keep clinging to policies of hostility against our Republic, we will not associate with any of them. As long as they do not abandon their policy of confronting their own people, they should not even think about sitting down with us,” the CPRF added.

The statement only employed the phrase “the puppet group of traitors,” which the North has often used in its criticism of the Lee Myung-bak administration. There was no mention of president-elect Park Geun-hye.

Meanwhile, the North instructed its teams not to participate in the inter-Korean youth and women’s football tournament games scheduled for Jan. 24 on Hainan Island in China. Games with South Korean teams from the city of Incheon and Gangwon Province were scheduled, but have been canceled.

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

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