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.