N. Korea belligerent ahead of joint drills

S. Korea, U.S. warned of ‘destruction’

— North Korea on Saturday warned the top U.S. military commander in South Korea that if the United States pressed ahead with joint military exercises with South Korea - set to begin next month - it could set off a war in which U.S. forces would “meet a miserable destruction.”

The warning came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries planned to kick off their Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint war games, beginning early next month. The allies regularly conduct such joint military drills, and whenever they happen, North Korea warns of war and threatens to deliver a devastating blow to U.S. and South Korean troops.

North Korea’s harsh reaction, though not unusual, came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the North’s third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Washington and its allies are pushing for more sanctions against North Korea while the North vows to take unspecified steps to retaliate against such sanctions.

“If your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle again under the cover of ‘defensive and annual ones’ at this dangerous time, from that moment your fate will be hung by a thread with every hour,” Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, said Saturday in a message to Gen. James D. Thurman, the U.S. commander in South Korea. “You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction.”

The text of the message was carried by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. military.

Panmunjom, a village straddling the western border between the two Koreas, remains the sole contact point between North Korea and the U.S. military. The United States fought on South Korea’s side during the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically at war. About 28,500 U.S. troops remain in South Korea to help safeguard the truce.

North Korea and the U.S. military exchange messages through Panmunjom, established at the time of the Korean War armistice. The U.S. military uses the Panmunjom channel to inform North Korea of its planned annual military drills with South Korea, which it says are for defensive purposes.

Although North Korea’s state-run media have always carried official statements condemning the exercises as rehearsals for invasion, it was unclear how often the North has also responded directly through Panmunjom. The last time it did so was in August, when the United States and South Korea conducted a joint military exercise.

Front Section, Pages 8 on 02/24/2013

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