By Bernama
Seoul : A recent spate of “provocative remarks” by South Korean officials have escalated tension on the Korean Peninsula to the highest point since the North’s nuclear test in 2006, Yonhap news agency reported Monday quoting a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, as saying.
“Political tension is escalating on the Korean peninsula. We can call it the worst confrontation since the North Korea (DPRK) conducted a nuclear test and the six-party talks on resolving a nuclear issue resumed in 2006,” said the Choson Sinbo, a daily published by the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.
DPRK is an acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.
North Korea has stepped up tension on the peninsula since Thursday by expelling 11 South Korean government officials from the joint industrial complex in Kaesong, a North Korean border town, and firing missiles the next day.
The expulsions were made in retaliation for South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong’s remarks that the complex will not be expanded further without progress in the nuclear dispute.
On Saturday, the North threatened to launch a pre-emptive strike to reduce South Korea to “ashes.”
The threat came in response to comments made last week by the new chairman of the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff that the South would hit North Korea’s nuclear weapon sites if the North attacks the South with nuclear bombs.
The newspaper, which often represents Pyongyang’s official position, indicated the remarks may also have a negative impact on the ongoing six-party process for denuclearizing North Korea.
“If tension deteriorates due to provocative remarks by the South Korean authorities, there is no guarantee that this would not serve another factor of reversing the implementation of terms of a six-party deal and the process of resolving the nuclear issue,” the South Korean news agency cited the paper as saying.
The six-party talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions are now stalled over North Korea’s reluctance to present a “complete and correct” declaration of its nuclear programs and alleged proliferation to Syria.