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| Axis of Evil |
| U.N.: N.Korea Violates 1953 DMZ Agreement: Mobilizes Machine Guns |
| 2002-12-27 |
| Friday, December 27, 2002 Posted: 3:02 PM EST (2002 GMT) The U.N. Command Friday released a photo it said showed North Korean troops in the DMZ with machine guns. SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- The North Korean army has brought light machine guns into the Demilitarized Zone, the United Nations Command on the Korean Peninsula said Friday -- a violation of agreements signed in 1953 at the end of the Korean War. A U.N.C. Military Armistice Commission investigation revealed that the North Koreans had brought into the DMZ automatic weapons, the kind that can be operated by crews. They were observed transporting, setting up and manning Type-73 light machine guns on six days between December 13 and December 20. The South Korean army spotted the weapons while providing security for workers building the reconnection of the Gyeongui railroad and adjacent highway between the two Koreas. The South Koreans reported that their northern counterparts set up the weapons from 100 to 400 meters (100 to 400 yards) north of the line and removed them at the end of each day. U.N.C. said that it sent a message on December 23 to North Korea requesting a meeting on the issue, to be held December 26, but the North Koreans would not accept the message. The United Nations command was set up after the June, 1950, North Korean invasion of the South to oversee troops from U.N. member nations that had volunteered to defend South Korea. Sixteen nations -- including the United States -- joined in the fight to repel the North. The Demilitarized Zone extends 2,000 meters from each side of the Military Demarcation Line, as agreed to in an armistice to the Korean War signed on July 27, 1953. According to U.S. and South Korean officials, two-thirds of North Korea's 1.1-million-member military are currently deployed close to the border with South Korea. South Korea has a 650,000-member military, assisted by 37,000 U.S. troops. Washington has repeatedly ignored demands by the North that it withdraw its forces from the South. In his January State of the Union speech, U.S. President George W. Bush called North Korea part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran. The U.N.C. report came on the same day that Pyongyang ordered International Atomic Energy Agency monitors to leave the country and began to restart dormant energy plants that the United States says could easily make nuclear weapons. It also told the IAEA that it will resume operations at its plant for reprocessing spent fuel rods -- a facility capable of making weapons-grade plutonium. In response, the IAEA said the inspectors were still needed and asked North Korea to reconsider. An official Chinese newspaper blasted the United States over its stance regarding North Korea's nuclear program. "This is a hawkish and dangerous warning," the English-language publication said. "It will poison the warming relations between the two sides of the Korean Peninsula." Warming Relations with North Korea? When did that happen? The editorial went on to say the United States was irritated at having to shift its focus toward North Korea while it planned a war in Iraq. It occurs to me that everytime we get set to take decisive action somewhere, something all of sudden pops up out of the woodwork with the clear intent to do nothing but distract us from the job at hand. Last year it was all the arab leaders saying "you've got to do something about the palastinian situation first". This year its North Korea with a freakin death wish. |
| Posted by:Frank Martin |
| #3 Ah yes, they moved the machine guns in, but that isn't a real violation...you see, if they fired that would be grounds for consternation! This shouldn't derail us, I mean, now that Neville Chamberlain was elected to the SK Presidency...I almost hope NK SOF troops manage to bump the guy off this time. |
| Posted by: Brian 2002-12-27 23:26:09 |
| #2 Sadly, the ROK elected another peacenik, Roh Mog-hyun from the MDP, who promised to continue the "sunshine policy" of sucking up to N. Korea. (He added in a bit of blaming the US for good measure, as politics.) |
| Posted by: John Thacker 2002-12-27 18:30:20 |
| #1 The warming relations was the feeling Carter and SKorea got from having their heads up their arses during the past five years. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-12-27 15:54:56 |