Text Fwd: N. Korea accuses South of attempting war

Yonhap News
2009/12/02 21:59 KST
N. Korea accuses South of attempting war

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea accused South Korea on Wednesday of staging military drills near the inter-Korean border, calling them "war maneuvers" targeted against the northern neighbor.

Citing a military source, the North's Korean Central News Agency gave a detailed account of what it claims were South Korea's latest military exercises just south of the heavily fortified border.

"The war-like forces of the South Korean puppet army are these days staging frantic war maneuvers targeted against the DPRK in the area along the forefront," the report said, citing an unidentified source. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The report argued the South Korean army's Ssangyong unit commenced a large field mobile exercise involving troops, tanks and armored cars in Chuncheon and Hwacheon in Gangwon Province on Monday.

On Nov. 27, it claimed South Korea dispatched military trucks carrying at least 20 pieces of 105mm artillery from Munsan, a western border town, toward the military demarcation line.

South Korean artillery and tank units also fired more than 200 shells from Tuesday to Wednesday, "inciting a war atmosphere," the report claimed.

"The madcap maneuvers for a war of aggression against the north being staged by the war-like forces of the south Korean puppet army in the area along the forefront are a blatant challenge to the desire of all the fellow countrymen for independence and reunification," the report said.

hkim@yna.co.kr