(World Today Friday 28 July 2017)
N Korea quiet on 64th anniversary of armistice signing
A North Korean soldier with his colleagues at the United Nations Command officials visit,
after a commemorative ceremony for the 64th anniversary of the Korean armistice at the truce village
of Panmunjom, in the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS
However, country’s leading newspaper again threatens US with pre-emptive nuclear strike
BEIJING/SEOUL — North Korea was quiet on the military front yesterday, as the reclusive nation and its neighbour South Korea marked the 64th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korean officials said there is no sign of an imminent missile launch. Still, government and defence officials in the region continued to be on high alert over a possible sabre-rattling by North Korea around the commemoration, following recent satellite-based information showing that it may be preparing for another ballistic missile test. In celebrating the anniversary of what North Korea calls “Victory Day”, the country’s leading newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, threatened the United States again with “a pre-emptive nuclear strike” if it tries to undermine “our dignity and the right to live”. “No matter how desperately the
However, country’s leading newspaper again threatens US with pre-emptive nuclear strike
United States may try, it can never evade its final ruin (that’s) already sealed,” said the paper in a commentary. “There is the only one way out for the United States. That is to withdraw the anachronistic hostile policy towards (North Korea) and kneel and apologise before its army and people.” The armistice signed on July 27, 1953, ended open fighting, but a formal peace treaty has never been in place, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war, divided at the 38th Parallel, now one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders. Pyongyang, claiming it won in what it calls “the Fatherland Liberation War” against the US-led United Nations and South Korean forces, has long demanded a security guarantee from Washington. Despite being faced with multiple sanctions by the international community, North Korea has shown no signs of abandoning its ambition to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of travelling as far as to the US mainland. North Korea conducted its first test-firing of an intercontinental bal
listic missile on July 4, coinciding with America’s Independence Day. Speculation is rife that North Korea will launch more long-range missiles in the months ahead, as leader Kim Jong-un, who celebrated the first test with scientists at that time, was quoted as urging them to “frequently send big and small gift packages” to the US. On the occasion of the armistice anniversary, US President Donald Trump released a statement remembering soldiers who fought in the war and renewed his pledge to defend national security and Washington’s allies abroad. “While the armistice stopped the active fighting in the region, North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear weapons programmes continue to pose grave
threats to the United States and our allies and partners,” he said. South Korea’s government, which this month proposed to reopen military talks with North Korea to defuse tensions along their heavily militarised border, held a memorial ceremony for the armistice. In his speech at the event in Seoul, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said the South Korean government will work closely with the international community and try to convince the North to choose the way of peace. Despite the administration of South Korean President Moon Jaein’s repeated calls to North Korea to return to the negotiating table, Pyongyang has given no response to Seoul’s most recent overtures. KYODO NEWS