U.S.-led body in S. Korea protests North's attack

U.S.-led body in S. Korea protests North's attack

SEOUL (Reuter): The U.S.-led United Nations Command in South Korea protested to the North yesterday over a border clash that has raised tensions at a time when Pyongyang is grappling with a food crisis.

The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to cut extra funding for a landmark nuclear project in North Korea if Pyongyang repeated Wednesday's violation of an armistice accord that ended the 1950- 1953 Korean War.

China called for calm, saying it hoped the incident would not affect proposed peace talks between the two Koreas. Preparatory discussions are due to begin in New York on Aug. 5.

There have long been fears that Pyongyang, facing economic ruin, will lash out in desperation at its cousins in the south.

Chronic food shortages in the country have left millions on the edge of starvation.

In a protest note handed over at the border village of Panmunjom, the UN Command accused North Korea of violating the 1953 truce. But a command statement said the North Korean side did not accept the protest. The UN Commands helps monitor the truce.

South Korea says Northern forces fired artillery rounds and aimed rifle and machine-gun fire at Southern guard posts as part of a provocation that began when 14 North Korean soldiers crossed the border line.

North Korea says several of its soldiers were wounded in what was one of the most serious clashes in many years along the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved an amendment to a foreign spending bill that orders the president to certify that North Korea is in compliance with the Korean armistice for nine months prior to any additional aid.

The amendment would withhold $14 million sought by the Clinton administration in fiscal 1998 to fund an international consortium supplying nuclear reactors to North Korea under a 1994 agreement.

It would not affect a $30 million contribution called for under the original terms of the accord.

But the U.S. State Department took a softer line. Spokesman Nicholas Burns said the shooting incident underscored the importance of starting four-way peace talks between the two Koreas, the United States and China.

Burns said the North's action was "definitely more aggressive than usual" but would have no effect on aid. The United States announced this week that it was more than doubling its food aid from $25 million to $52 million.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang said Beijing was "not eager to see this kind of tense situation on the Korean peninsula".

"We hope the concerned parties can attend the conference with an attitude of sincerity," he told a news briefing, in a reference to the New York talks.

"We will play a constructive role in establishing a mechanism for peace," Tang said.

North Korea sought to patch up relations with Japan by saying it would lift a ban that has prevented Japanese wives of North Koreans from leaving the communist nation to visit their homeland.

Japan welcomed the gesture, which removes a thorn in relations and could result in Japanese food aid.

But Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto complained that the decision should have been relayed through diplomatic channels.

The official Korean Central News Agency said the aging women, estimated to number about 1,800, would be able to visit soon.

Most married in Japan between 1959 and 1982, followed their husbands home and were stranded as relations soured between the two countries.