[R-G] North Korea accuses U.S. of plotting attack

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/11/AR2009031101104_pf.html

North Korea accuses U.S. of plotting attack

By Jack Kim
Reuters
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; 4:00 PM

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused  
the United States of preparing for a war against the communist state  
in Pyongyang's first verbal criticism of the Obama Administration.

A ministry spokesman said military drills taking place between U.S.  
and South Korean forces were "nuclear war exercises designed to mount  
a preemptive attack on the DPRK." The DPRK is the North's official  
name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The comments came as Russia and China -- two of the North's few  
remaining allies -- said that they were also concerned about rising  
tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"The new administration of the U.S. is now working hard to infringe  
upon the sovereignty of the DPRK by force of arms in collusion with  
the South Korean puppet bellicose forces," said a Ministry of Foreign  
Affairs spokesman, in comments carried by the North's official KCNA  
news agency.

"The DPRK, exposed to the potential threat of the U.S. and its allied  
forces, will take every necessary measure to protect its sovereignty,"  
the unnamed spokesman added.

Since the inauguration of the South's conservative President Lee Myung- 
bak, the North has all but severed relations with its wealthy  
neighbor, and in recent weeks increasingly stepped up rhetoric against  
the United States.

TENSE SITUATION

The North Korean official said that inter-Korean relations had reached  
their worst phase and the situation had grown so tense that "a war may  
break out any moment due to the reckless policy of confrontation"  
pursued by South Korea.

The prickly North has turned increasingly strident in its rhetoric,  
putting its one-million-strong military on combat readiness over the  
exercises in the South and planning to launch a long-range missile in  
what several governments have said would be in contravention of U.N.  
sanctions.

Media reported last week that Japan and the United States might try to  
intercept any ballistic missile launched by the North.

The North says the rocket is part of a peaceful space programme and  
any attempt to shoot down its missile would be seen as an act of war.

North Korea on Monday said it had put its armed forces on full combat  
readiness in response to the start of the annual military exercises  
that have been held for years without incident. The drills end on  
March 20.

On Wednesday, U.S. aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis made a port  
call in the southern city of Busan to join the drills while a guided  
missile destroyer the USS Chafee was in the waters off the peninsula's  
east.

The commanding officer of the nuclear-powered carrier, Rear Admiral  
Mark A. Vance said the exercise and the participation of the fleet was  
not at all in response to the increased tensions surrounding the  
North's missile launch preparations.

RUSSIA, CHINA CONCERNED

Russia and China called on those involved "to show restraint and  
composure, and to refrain from any actions that could undermine  
security and stability in this region," the Russian Foreign Ministry  
said in a statement on Wednesday.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his Chinese  
counterpart Yang Jiechi on Tuesday.

Russia and China, together with South and North Korea, the United  
States and Japan are party to multilateral talks that began in 2003 on  
ending the North's nuclear arms programme.

Implementation of a key disarmament deal struck in 2005 has been held  
up as Pyongyang slowed the process of disabling its nuclear facilities  
while energy aid to the North in return for those steps also dried up  
in recent weeks.

The conservative South Korean government has stopped aid to the  
impoverished North after 10 years of no-questions-asked aid by Lee's  
liberal predecessors, angering Pyongyang's leaders.

After a day of suspending border processing on Monday, the communist  
North on Tuesday allowed South Koreans back into a lucrative factory  
just across the armed border.

Traffic and personnel flow across the heavily armed border continued  
as usual while the military hotline used to process the crossing  
remained cut from the North's side, officials said.

(Additional reporting by Jo Yong-hak in Busan and Guy Faulconbridge in  
Moscow; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)