Just a day after reaching agreement on separated
family reunions to be held later this month, the North Korean authorities have linked the
issue to upcoming U.S-ROK joint military exercises, announcing that “dialogue
and wartime invasion exercises, reconciliation and agitating for confrontation; these can never go
hand in hand.”
“It would be nonsense to hold reunions of families scattered by a previous war in the midst
of treacherously dangerous nuclear war exercises,” Chosun Central
Television announced, citing a statement from the National
Defense Commission (NDC). “The South Chosun authorities must
rid themselves of their confrontational character and act decisively to meet the
expectations of the people.”
The statement also claimed that an American B-52 bomber took
part in exercises over the West Sea yesterday, the same day that Red Cross
working-level talks were held at Panmunjom. It asserted, “How
can (South Korea) shout about building trust and improving relations while they
are throwing open their sovereign airspace to allow American nuclear-capable
bomber formations to crawl in?” The U.S. government has yet to comment on the allegation.
The NDC also took issue with reports in the South Korean
media yesterday criticizing Kim Jong Eun for failing to remove his shoes during
a visit to an orphanage in Pyongyang.
“We will not be able to consider executing the agreement
that has been reached while the slander against our Highest Dignity and our system
continues,” it warned.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for South Korea’s
defense ministry has repeated the South’s stance that the annual U.S.-ROK
“Key
Resolve” and “Foal Eagle”
joint military exercises are defensive in nature.
“They will continue as normal, and are unrelated to the
separated family reunions,” he said.
