| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| NKorea to restrict border crossings with South |
| 2008-11-13 |
| North Korea said on Wednesday that it would close all land borders with the South from Dec. 1, accusing its neighbor of taking confrontation "beyond the danger level", the North's official media reported. "We officially inform the south side that the actual crucial measure taken by the KPA (North Korean army) to strictly restrict and cut off all the overland passages through the Military Demarcation Line will take effect from December 1," North Korea's KCNA news agency said. The statement, carried in English, did not make it clear whether border crossings would be totally halted or heavily restricted. A ban on all crossings would effectively shut down the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial complex just north of the border. Wednesday's announcement follows months of icy relations, including threats by the communist state to expel South Koreans from Kaesong. The move also follows increasingly angry rhetoric from the North against South Korea's conservative government, which came to power earlier this year with a promise to get tough if the North did not give up its nuclear weapons program. Last month, North Korea threatened A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said it regretted the move, but that it respected all past agreements between the two and called for talks to resolve the issue. "We express our regret over the North's decision and if the north carries out these measures it would negatively affect the efforts made thus far to improve inter-Korean ties," he said. There are two main road crossings over the demilitarized zone that has divided the peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, for which a peace treaty has never been agreed. One leads to the Kaesong industrial park, operated by the South just across the border and the one tangible commercial link between the two, and takes tour groups on to nearby Kaesong city. The other is on the east side of the peninsula to another tour site, Mt Kumgang. That site was closed to tourists earlier this year after a South Korean tourist was shot dead. A rail link was opened for regular runs last December for the first time in almost 50 years but it carries almost no cargo. The closures, however, will not impact the delivery of energy aid agreed under a six-nation nuclear agreement as the fuel is delivered by ship. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 As a reminder, MANY PERTS > believe NOKOR's agricultural sector will collapse this year, an anticipated event likely worsened by Kimmie's new health crisis. Also, NOKOR in the past was proud of its State ability to resist the kind of "FOREIGN" OR "MUSLIM" IMMIGRATION PROBS BEING FELT IN SOUTH KOREA > NOKOR = PYONGYANG IS PROB UNSETTLED BY CHINA'S POST-OLYMPICS UIGHUR-MUSLIM TROUBLES IN ITS WESTERN REGIONS, + India + SE Asia. NOKOR > IFF INDIA, ETC. BREAKS UP 2015-2020, WILL IT HAPPEN TO NK-BACKER CHINA??? The ISLAMIST THREAT is a NEW CARD IN THE PAN-ASIA, PRO-NUCLEAR DECK - ITS NOT JUST CHINA ANDOR US-SOKOR-JAPAN ANYMORE! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-11-13 01:08 |