SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - North Korea on Thursday threatened unspecified
"tougher counter-measures" after South Korea's defence minister labelled the
communist state as an enemy which threatened national security.
It condemned the remarks by Defence Minister Lee Sang-Hee as "nothing less
than a declaration of war," and said the South should be responsible for all
consequences.
"We will never pardon the thoughtless remarks... and will react with tougher
counter-measures," the North's state Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of
the Fatherland said in a statement.
The defence minister on Monday singled out North Korea in answering a
question by lawmakers about which country poses the greatest threat to the
South's capitalist system.
"Regardless of whether North Korea is our prime enemy or not, the military
is educating (soldiers) that North Korea is a present enemy," he said.
The committee, which is in charge of cross-border cooperation and exchanges,
said the remarks were "unpardonable provocation."
They comments showed that President Lee Myung-Bak was intensifying his
campaign against the North, it said in a statement carried by the official
Korean Central News Agency.
Lee's "hostile" stance had dampened relations that had been developing well
since historic summits in 2000 and 2007, the committee said.
"Danger of a war is growing day by day on the Korean peninsula," it warned.
North Korea cut off dialogue with the South after Lee, whose election ended
10 years of liberal rule, promised a firmer line with the North and vowed to
raise human rights issues.
Relations further chilled this month after a North Korean soldier shot dead
a Seoul tourist at the Mount Kumgang resort when she strayed into an off-limits
military zone.
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