Seoul and Washington on high alert over North Korea
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) –US-South Korea combined forces command have upgraded alert levels to stage two and are mobilising troops along the border between the two Koreas, it was announced this morning by the South Korean Defence Minister. The procedure is a direct response to North Koreas declaration yesterday that it no longer considers the armistice with the South valid.
A defence ministry spokesman said “surveillance over the North will be stepped up, with more aircraft and personnel mobilised “. The aim is to show “a solid line of defence” to prevent “military provocations from the North”.
Yesterday Pyongyang announced the 1953 armistice signed with Seoul at the end of the Korean War invalid, and threaten a “military response” to the South’s decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (Psi), an initiative launched by former US President George Bush, to stop the transfer of nuclear technologies. A move the North has defined an act of war.
It is the fourth time since 1982 that the watch conditions had been upgraded to stage two. The last time was in October 2006, after the North's first nuclear test. This is the fifth time in 15 years Pyongyang has sought to nullify the armistice governing the Korean War. International analysts believe it is a deliberate show of strength by Kim Jong-il in his attempts to gain greater economic concessions and aid.
Weeks ago the North’s Communist government announced that they had restarted the nuclear reactor in the Yongbong plant, in which plutonium for nuclear warheads is produced. The non government Institute for Science and International Security (Isis) – based in Washington – has shown satellite images which disproves the North’s claim that the plant is operative. There is no vapour emission from the chimneys and there is no proof that the cooling tower for the plutonium has been rebuilt.
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