bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: Wonder what's on the leaflets.... |
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The Norks seem extremely peeved by these... moreso than in the past. They must be having an effect....
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2008/10/27/80/0301000000AEN20081027006000315F.HTML
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(LEAD) Pyongyang blasts Seoul over anti-communist leaflets
혻혻 By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday threatened to suspend its joint industrial project with South Korea, citing the increasing cross-border spread of anti-North Korea leaflets by South Korean civic organizations, the Defense Ministry said.
혻혻 The communist North's latest threat came during a brief meeting of working-level military officials from the divided Koreas, the second of its kind this month since inter-Korean military dialogue resumed earlier this month after an eight-month hiatus.
혻혻 "The North Korean side pointed out that the spread of leaflets is on the rise and demanded that our side take immediate measures to halt their distribution (in the North)," Col. Lee Sang-cheol, head of the North Korea policy bureau at the Defense Ministry, told reporters.
혻혻 The meeting came at an unexpected proposal from the communist North, which has cut off most of its official dialogue channels with the Seoul government since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated in February.
혻혻 Col. Lee earlier this month attended working-level dialogue with his North Korean counterpart in the first military talks between the Koreas since January, but that meeting ended in just a few hours as North Korean delegates used the venue solely to criticize Seoul for spreading propaganda leaflets in the North that slandered their leader Kim Jong-il.
혻혻 "North Koreans today repeated exactly what they had said at that working-level talks," Lee said, noting the communist nation had then threatened to halt the joint industrial complex project in the North's border town of Kaesong if Seoul failed to take steps to prevent the spread of what it called "propaganda leaflets."
Monday's meeting, held on the roadside of a western route that crosses the inter-Korean border, lasted less than 20 minutes, according to Won Tae-jae, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.
혻혻 Pyongyang also demanded Seoul take measures to repair military hotlines between the countries that have been out of operation since May and to provide necessary equipment and materials to help modernize its communication systems, the ministry said in a released statement.
혻혻 "The North Korean side stressed the need to take immediate measures to repair the military communication lines between the two and demanded the South Korean side provide military communications equipment and materials," it said.
혻혻 South Korea agreed late last year to help modernize the North's outdated communications systems to secure better communication channels with the communist state, but has yet to do so amid continued tension with Pyongyang, which frequently calls the South Korean president a traitor.
혻혻 "The Lee Myung-bak group's reckless suppression of the pro-reunification democratic forces is a frontal challenge to the South Korean people who desire new politics and new life, and a crime against the nation and reunification," Rodong Sinmun, a newspaper published by the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary last week.
혻혻 No significant agreement was reached at the brief contact held Monday, ministry officials said, as the meeting was not aimed at discussing the pending issues, but only to allow each side an opportunity to raise issues that need to be addressed.
혻혻 "The sides agreed to review each other's position exchanged at the contact once they return to their side and concluded the contact," the ministry said.
혻혻 The two Koreas are divided by the world's most heavily fortified border, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War and one of the world's last Cold War front. The countries are technically at war as the Korean War ended only with an armistice treaty, not a peace agreement.
혻혻 [email protected]
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