[77Dinaartickire]

May 24, 2010

TENSIONS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULAR
North Korea to open fire



The broadcasts would be resumed in response to the North's sinking of a South Korean warship in March. -- PHOTO: AP

SEOUL - NORTH Korea's military said on Monday it would open fire at any South Korean loudspeakers broadcasting propaganda across the border if Seoul follows through on its pledge to install them. The South's Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young said the broadcasts, suspended since 2004, would be resumed in response to the North's sinking of a South Korean warship in March. It was part of a package of measures announced by Seoul after an official investigation concluded last week that the North had sunk the ship with a torpedo on March 26.

The North has denied involvement in the sinking which cost 46 lives and threatened 'all-out war' in response to any punitive measures. Its military said in a statement that propaganda slogans had already appeared on the South's side of the border, and the South's military was moving to set up the loudspeakers. In a statement on Pyongyang's official news agency, the North's military called the alleged actions a 'serious military provocation'.

'If (South Korea) sets up new tools for psychological warfare such as loudspeakers and leaves slogans for psychological warfare intact, ignoring our demands, we will directly aim and open fire to destroy them,' the statement said. The two sides agreed six years ago to halt official cross-border propaganda, although the North frequently complains strongly about private Seoul groups which launch anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the tightly guarded frontier. -- AFP