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NKorea Vows to Block Border With South 10/09 06:07
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea said Wednesday it will permanently
block its border with South Korea and build frontline defense structures to
cope with "confrontational hysteria" by South Korean and U.S. forces, while not
announcing an expected constitutional revision to formally designate South
Korea its principal enemy and codify new national borders.
While the moves were likely a pressure tactic, it's unclear how they will
affect ties with South Korea since cross-border travel and exchanges have been
halted for years.
North Korea's military said it will "completely cut off roads and railways "
linked to South Korea and "fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong
defense structures," according to the North's official Korean Central News
Agency.
The North's military called its steps a "self-defensive measure for
inhibiting war and defending the security" of North Korea. It said that "the
hostile forces are getting ever more reckless in their confrontational
hysteria." It cited what it called various war exercises in South Korea, the
deployment of U.S. strategic assets and its rivals' harsh rhetoric.
South Korea's military said later Wednesday that it won't tolerate any
attempt by North Korea to change the status quo. It said South Korea will
"overwhelmingly punish" North Korea if it launches provocations. A South Korean
military statement said North Korea's nuclear and missile programs have
threatened peace on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korean officials earlier said North Korea had already been adding
anti-tank barriers and reinforcing roads on its side of the border since April
in a likely attempt to boost its front-line security posture and prevent its
soldiers and citizens from defecting to South Korea. In a report to parliament
on Tuesday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said that North Korea has been
removing ties on the northern side of cross-border railways and nearby lamps
and planting mines along the border.
KCNA earlier Wednesday said the Supreme People's Assembly met for two days
this week to amend the legal ages of North Koreans for working and
participating in elections. But it didn't say whether the meeting dealt with
leader Kim Jong Un's order in January to rewrite the constitution to remove the
goal of a peaceful Korean unification, formally designate South Korea as the
country's "invariable principal enemy" and define the North's sovereign,
territorial sphere.
At the center of outside attention was whether North Korea makes new legal
claims on the waters currently controlled by South Korea off their west coast.
The poorly marked western sea boundary is where three bloody naval skirmishes
and two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea happened in the past 25 years.
Some experts say North Korea might have delayed the constitutional revision
but others speculated it amended the constitution without announcing it because
of its sensitivity.
Kim's order stunned many North Korea watchers because it was seen as
breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of achieving a
unified Korea on the North's terms. Experts say Kim likely aims to diminish
South Korea's voice in the regional nuclear standoff and seek direct dealings
with the U.S. They say Kim also likely hopes to diminish South Korean cultural
influence and bolster his rule at home.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with
North Korea continuing a run of provocative weapons tests and South Korea and
the U.S. expanding their military drills. KCNA said North Korea on Tuesday
tested a long-range artillery system that observers say pose a direct threat to
Seoul, the South Korean capital, which is only an hour's drive from the border.
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