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KPA to Take Necessary Measure against U.S. Unilateral Action

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

    Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army released the following statement Sunday: On April 13 the south Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff formally announced that the south Korean army would take over the guard duty in the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom so far performed by the U.S. forces and even the Oryonggye post, the last U.S. forces' post in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) handed over to it.
    On April 11 the commander of the U.S. forces in south Korea made a similar statement at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.
    The KPA side and the U.S. forces side have ensured the security in the JSA in Panmunjom for the last more than 50 years since the ceasefire in accordance with the Armistice Agreement and the agreement made in the subsequent period.
    The U.S. forces side, however, announced all of a sudden that it would completely withdraw its forces from the JSA and DMZ and deploy there soldiers of the south Korean army, which is neither a signatory to the AA nor a member of the "allied forces", in disregard of the AA and points agreed upon between the two sides.
    The U.S. is massively shipping ultra-modern arms and equipment into south Korea and staging war exercises against the DPRK one after another, while putting all sorts of unreasonable pressure upon it under the pretext of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, the issue of its own making.
    The U.S. decision to take even its small force out of the JSA in Panmunjom and DMZ against this backdrop indicates that the U.S. preparations for a preemptive attack upon the DPRK are under way at a final phase.
    As facts tell, the gravity of the unilateral measure taken by the U.S. forces side without any consultation with the KPA side, a signatory to the AA, lies not in taking the small force out of the JSA and DMZ but in giving up its status as a signatory to the AA through this action.
    By deliberately backing off the implementation of the agreement on security in the JSA and the headquarters' area in Panmunjom the U.S. side made it impossible to ensure telephone communication and contact between the liaison officers, the last means of contact between the two sides, and the security for talks between the two sides.
    By replacing the U.S. troops in Panmunjom by south Korean troops, the U.S. side seeks to give up the implementation of the AA related to the maintenance and management of DMZ set up as a buffer zone to prevent the recurrence of a war and the agreement on repair and reconstruction and security of the JSA. This clearly reminds one of the criminal act the U.S. side committed by appointing a general of the south Korean army, which is neither a signatory to the AA nor part of "UN forces", as a senior member of the U.S. side to the Military Armistice Commission ten years back and paralyzing all functions of the bodies to supervise the implementation of the AA.
    The disturbance of the order and security in the JSA in Panmunjom and the suspension of the contact and communication between the two sides in this area due to the U.S. side's unilateral step would have a serious impact on the preservation of the armistice in Korea and this would push the situation to a very grave phase of tension.
    The U.S. side, however, is set to totally give up its obligation in disregard of the AA and the agreed points which have been implemented over the last more than half a century and even the practice long observed by the two sides. This situation prompts the KPA side not to allow such a thing as failure to fulfill what it wants to do, bound to the AA and the agreements between the two sides, and compels it to take whatever strong measure to protect its own security.
    Now that the U.S. side is expected to give up its status as a signatory to the AA to achieve its aim, the KPA side will comprehensively examine the issue of security in the headquarters' area in the DMZ and in the joint security area, all the provisions of the AA related to security necessary for ensuring telephone communication between the two sides, contact between liaison officers and talks between the two sides in the area and the points agreed upon between the two sides and go into prompt action when necessary to take measures for protecting the security and interests in this area.
    The U.S. side should not forget that both the DPRK and the U.S. are technically at war in an unstable state of armistice as they have not yet settled the belligerent relationship.
    The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks things will go on in Korea as it wishes as it is apt to expect from other countries.