Communist North Korea Postpones Talks with South
Fri March 21, 2003 10:20 PM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea said on Saturday it was postponing talks with the South, blaming Seoul for beefing up defenses after U.S.-led forces launched military strikes against Iraq.
The talks were scheduled to be held in Pyongyang from Wednesday to discuss marine cooperation and economic exchanges.
"(We are) compelled to postpone meetings and contact between the North and the South," the North's official news agency, KCNA, said in a statement. "The south side is to blame for this."
North Korea -- which Washington has bracketed with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" -- is locked in a standoff with Washington and Seoul over its nuclear ambitions and fears it could be the United States' next target after Iraq.
The isolated state said on Friday the Iraq war would have "disastrous" consequences.
"The South Korean authorities declared a dangerous 'high alert posture'...against the North under the pretext of the Iraqi war," KCNA said, referring to South Korean media reports which said the South had raised its military alert status.
Seoul flatly denied the reports.
North Korea said on Friday the U.S.-led Iraq war was part of a strategy to attack it and told South Korea it was playing with fire if it tried to boost defenses.
KCNA also stepped up its rhetoric against annual U.S. military exercises being held in South Korea.
Seoul is on guard for any steps by North Korea to ratchet up tension in the nuclear crisis following North Korean missile tests at sea and the interception of a U.S. spy plane in recent weeks.
A U.N. envoy said in Beijing on Saturday he hoped for a peaceful settlement to a standoff between Washington and Pyongyang but that any misstep could still trigger war.
"There is no need for war, yet war could occur if the parties cannot find a way to resolve their differences across the table diplomatically," Maurice Strong, returning to Beijing after several days in North Korea, told reporters.
"We must do everything to ensure this particular controversy does not result in war," he said.
Fri March 21, 2003 10:20 PM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea said on Saturday it was postponing talks with the South, blaming Seoul for beefing up defenses after U.S.-led forces launched military strikes against Iraq.
The talks were scheduled to be held in Pyongyang from Wednesday to discuss marine cooperation and economic exchanges.
"(We are) compelled to postpone meetings and contact between the North and the South," the North's official news agency, KCNA, said in a statement. "The south side is to blame for this."
North Korea -- which Washington has bracketed with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" -- is locked in a standoff with Washington and Seoul over its nuclear ambitions and fears it could be the United States' next target after Iraq.
The isolated state said on Friday the Iraq war would have "disastrous" consequences.
"The South Korean authorities declared a dangerous 'high alert posture'...against the North under the pretext of the Iraqi war," KCNA said, referring to South Korean media reports which said the South had raised its military alert status.
Seoul flatly denied the reports.
North Korea said on Friday the U.S.-led Iraq war was part of a strategy to attack it and told South Korea it was playing with fire if it tried to boost defenses.
KCNA also stepped up its rhetoric against annual U.S. military exercises being held in South Korea.
Seoul is on guard for any steps by North Korea to ratchet up tension in the nuclear crisis following North Korean missile tests at sea and the interception of a U.S. spy plane in recent weeks.
A U.N. envoy said in Beijing on Saturday he hoped for a peaceful settlement to a standoff between Washington and Pyongyang but that any misstep could still trigger war.
"There is no need for war, yet war could occur if the parties cannot find a way to resolve their differences across the table diplomatically," Maurice Strong, returning to Beijing after several days in North Korea, told reporters.
"We must do everything to ensure this particular controversy does not result in war," he said.
Comment