The Associated Press October 08, 2006
Tensions build over threat of nuclear test
By Hans Greimel
SEOUL, South Korea -- Tensions mounted over North Korea's threat to test its first atomic bomb, with shots ringing out Saturday along the border with South Korea and Japan warning of harsh sanctions if Pyongyang goes nuclear.
With a possible test expected as early as today, the U.N. Security Council issued a stern statement Friday urging the country to abandon its nuclear ambitions and warning of unspecified consequences if the isolated government, a hard-line communist regime, doesn't comply.
Jittery nations have warned that a test would unravel regional security and possibly trigger an arms race.
A midday incursion Saturday by North Korean troops into the southern side of the no-man's-land separating North and South Korea only stoked the unease.
South Korean soldiers rattled off 40 warning shots at five communist soldiers who crossed the center line of the Demilitarized Zone, the inter-Korean buffer.
It was unclear whether the North Korean advance was intended as a provocation or was an attempt to go fishing at a nearby stream, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on condition of anonymity, citing official policy. No one was hurt, and the North Koreans retreated.
While such border skirmishes are not unheard of, they are relatively rare. Saturday's incursion was only the second this year, the official said.
Meanwhile, world powers were stepping up diplomatic efforts to avert a nuclear test. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to visit Beijing today for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and then proceed to Seoul for talks with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun the next day.
A State Department spokesman, Kurtis Cooper, said Saturday that the United States is concerned about North Korea's threat to test its first atomic bomb and that the department is closely monitoring the high tensions.
Japan plans to step up economic sanctions against North Korea, tighten trade restrictions and freeze additional North Korea-linked bank accounts should a nuclear test be carried out, Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.
"North Korea has already made a decision to carry out a test," said Li Dunqiu, a North Korea expert on China's State Council Development Research Center, a Cabinet-level think tank. But "if the U.S. removes sanctions ... then tensions can be eased. Otherwise launching a nuclear test is unavoidable for North Korea."
The United States imposed economic restrictions on North Korea last year to punish it over alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.
North Korea said Tuesday that it decided to act in the face of what it claimed was "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war," but gave no date for the test. Washington has repeatedly said that it has no intention of invading North Korea.
IN THE KNOW
What's the DMZ?
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 396-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide strip of land that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. It cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an acute angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it.
The DMZ is the most heavily armed border in the world.
The July 27, 1953, Armistice Agreement established the DMZ along the approximate line of ground contact between the opposing forces at the time the truce ended the Korean War.
Inside the DMZ near the western coast of the peninsula is a place called Panmunjeom, home of the Joint Security Area. It is the only place where North and South connect.
All negotiations since 1953 have been held in the Joint Security Area.
Apart from Panmunjeom, the Joint Security Area and two small villages, no people live in the DMZ.
SOURCES: GlobalSecurity.org, Star-Telegram
© Copyright 2006, The Associated Press
