SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said on Tuesday that North Korea cannot unilaterally nullify the 1953 Korean War cease-fire, calling the North’s war threats a psychological ploy to strengthen Kim Jong-un’s leadership at home and force Washington and Seoul to make concessions to the isolated country.
Following through on a standing threat that it revived last week amid tensions over joint U.S.-South Korean military drills coupled with U.N. sanctions, North Korea declared the armistice nullified as of Monday and that the guns of the 1950-53 Korean War, silenced for 60 years under an uneasy truce, could roar again any time.
North Korea also severed military and Red Cross hot lines and issued a torrent of threats, including a possible "pre-emptive nuclear strike" against Washington and Seoul.
In North Korea, the authorities were kicking up a war fever — a tool of populace control they had previously used at times of international tension — by having people evacuate into tunnels with emergency provisions and putting up military camouflages on buses and trucks, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
Mr. Kim, the North Korean leader, visited front-line artillery units twice in the last week, warning that "war can break out right now" and calling for merciless strikes at the South Korean marine bases he watched across the border through binoculars, according to North Korean media.
Last Friday, Hyon Yong-chol, the chief of the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army, visited the truce village of Panmunjom on the border, raising fears among some South Koreans that the North might repeat what it had done there in 1996 by sending hundreds of armed troops to punctuate its claim that the armistice was no longer valid.
Stressing their alliance against North Korean threats, President Park Geun-hye’s office announced on Tuesday that she planned to meet President Obama in Washington in early May in her first summit since taking office on Feb. 25. The announcement came a day after the allies launched their annual Key Resolve joint military exercise, which are in addition to their two-month-long Foal Eagle drill that began on March 1.
"A unilateral nullification or termination of the armistice is not allowed under its related articles and principles of international laws," said Cho Tae-young, spokesman of the South Korean Foreign Ministry. "We demand that North Korea withdraw comments that threaten the stability and peace of the Korean Peninsula and the region."
He was referring to the provision of the armistice stipulating that it can be changed only through "mutually acceptable" agreements.
Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the United Nations, which sent allied troops to fight for South Korea during the war, also told reporters that North Korea could not dissolve the armistice unilaterally.
Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the South Korean Defense Ministry, said on Tuesday that there was no sign of imminent nuclear or missile tests by the North or hostilities along the inter-Korean border. He said that the "rhetorical threats" flooding the North’s state-run media was aimed at putting "psychological pressure" on the South.
"Through a series of political and military activities, North Korea is strengthening the solidarity of its people at home, while using the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises as a pretext to threaten and pressure South Korea and the United States to change their polices," he said. "If they launch a provocation, we will respond more strongly and make sure that they suffer far more."
Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, said the U.S. was "certainly concerned by North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric. And the threats that they have been making follow a pattern designed to raise tension and intimidate others."
And Tom Donilon, the U.S. national security adviser, told the Asia Society in New York that Pyongyang’s claims may be "hyperbolic," but he added, "There should be no doubt: We will draw upon the full range of our capabilities to protect against, and to respond to, the threat posed to us and to our allies by North Korea.”
Raising the fear of military clashes by threatening to scrap the armistice has long been part of North Korea’s efforts to draw Washington to the negotiating table. North Korea demands a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War, as well as security guarantees from the Americans. It also seeks direct talks with Washington for the perceived prestige it would bring the regime.
As the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear ambition has dragged on, some analysts argue that Washington should try negotiating a comprehensive deal that addresses North Korea’s concerns in return for Pyongyang giving up of its nuclear weapons. But Seoul and Washington officials also suspect that North Korea would turn talks for a peace treaty into an endless haggling demanding the removal of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea Korea and the reduction of U.S. arms in the region.
Since the end of the war, South Korea has accused North Korea repeatedly of violating the armistice by sending armed spies across the border, infiltrating submarines in South Korean waters, kidnapping hundreds of South Korean fishermen and still holding them there and launching an artillery attack on a South Korea island in 2010 that killed four people. Thousands of men from both sides, including many American soldiers, are believed to have died or remain missing.
As of the mid-1990s, North Korea had violated the truce 420,000 times, according to U.S. and South Korean military data. North Korea alleged more violations by its enemies; until recently it has routinely accused them of sending spy planes into its airspace and bringing heavier weapons into the Demilitarized Zone along the border than allowed.
Following through on a standing threat that it revived last week amid tensions over joint U.S.-South Korean military drills coupled with U.N. sanctions, North Korea declared the armistice nullified as of Monday and that the guns of the 1950-53 Korean War, silenced for 60 years under an uneasy truce, could roar again any time.
North Korea also severed military and Red Cross hot lines and issued a torrent of threats, including a possible "pre-emptive nuclear strike" against Washington and Seoul.
In North Korea, the authorities were kicking up a war fever — a tool of populace control they had previously used at times of international tension — by having people evacuate into tunnels with emergency provisions and putting up military camouflages on buses and trucks, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
Mr. Kim, the North Korean leader, visited front-line artillery units twice in the last week, warning that "war can break out right now" and calling for merciless strikes at the South Korean marine bases he watched across the border through binoculars, according to North Korean media.
Last Friday, Hyon Yong-chol, the chief of the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army, visited the truce village of Panmunjom on the border, raising fears among some South Koreans that the North might repeat what it had done there in 1996 by sending hundreds of armed troops to punctuate its claim that the armistice was no longer valid.
Stressing their alliance against North Korean threats, President Park Geun-hye’s office announced on Tuesday that she planned to meet President Obama in Washington in early May in her first summit since taking office on Feb. 25. The announcement came a day after the allies launched their annual Key Resolve joint military exercise, which are in addition to their two-month-long Foal Eagle drill that began on March 1.
"A unilateral nullification or termination of the armistice is not allowed under its related articles and principles of international laws," said Cho Tae-young, spokesman of the South Korean Foreign Ministry. "We demand that North Korea withdraw comments that threaten the stability and peace of the Korean Peninsula and the region."
He was referring to the provision of the armistice stipulating that it can be changed only through "mutually acceptable" agreements.
Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the United Nations, which sent allied troops to fight for South Korea during the war, also told reporters that North Korea could not dissolve the armistice unilaterally.
Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the South Korean Defense Ministry, said on Tuesday that there was no sign of imminent nuclear or missile tests by the North or hostilities along the inter-Korean border. He said that the "rhetorical threats" flooding the North’s state-run media was aimed at putting "psychological pressure" on the South.
"Through a series of political and military activities, North Korea is strengthening the solidarity of its people at home, while using the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises as a pretext to threaten and pressure South Korea and the United States to change their polices," he said. "If they launch a provocation, we will respond more strongly and make sure that they suffer far more."
Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, said the U.S. was "certainly concerned by North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric. And the threats that they have been making follow a pattern designed to raise tension and intimidate others."
And Tom Donilon, the U.S. national security adviser, told the Asia Society in New York that Pyongyang’s claims may be "hyperbolic," but he added, "There should be no doubt: We will draw upon the full range of our capabilities to protect against, and to respond to, the threat posed to us and to our allies by North Korea.”
Raising the fear of military clashes by threatening to scrap the armistice has long been part of North Korea’s efforts to draw Washington to the negotiating table. North Korea demands a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War, as well as security guarantees from the Americans. It also seeks direct talks with Washington for the perceived prestige it would bring the regime.
As the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear ambition has dragged on, some analysts argue that Washington should try negotiating a comprehensive deal that addresses North Korea’s concerns in return for Pyongyang giving up of its nuclear weapons. But Seoul and Washington officials also suspect that North Korea would turn talks for a peace treaty into an endless haggling demanding the removal of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea Korea and the reduction of U.S. arms in the region.
Since the end of the war, South Korea has accused North Korea repeatedly of violating the armistice by sending armed spies across the border, infiltrating submarines in South Korean waters, kidnapping hundreds of South Korean fishermen and still holding them there and launching an artillery attack on a South Korea island in 2010 that killed four people. Thousands of men from both sides, including many American soldiers, are believed to have died or remain missing.
As of the mid-1990s, North Korea had violated the truce 420,000 times, according to U.S. and South Korean military data. North Korea alleged more violations by its enemies; until recently it has routinely accused them of sending spy planes into its airspace and bringing heavier weapons into the Demilitarized Zone along the border than allowed.