• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

CPRF Secretariat Indicts U.S. for Hamstringing North-South Cooperation

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

    Pyongyang, June 12 (KCNA) -- The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issued an indictment Friday on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the publication of the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration condemning the U.S. for having totally ignored the joint declaration and worked hard to prevent the north-south relations from improving. Accusing the U.S. of fostering distrust and confrontation between the north and the south, the indictment said:
    The adoption of the joint declaration at the historic Pyongyang meeting in June 2000 marked a significant occasion as it opened up a turning phase in improving the north-south relations and achieving the peace and reunification of the country. However, the U.S. has totally ignored the joint declaration and hamstrung its implementation overtly and covertly from the very outset.
    The U.S. has become more undisguised in its moves to bring the inter-Korean relations back to the era of distrust and confrontation since the emergence of the Bush regime in January 2001, in particular.
    The "north Korea policy initiative" announced by Bush on June 6, 2001 was a political stick he used for forcing the south Korean authorities to cooperate with the U.S. in executing its hard-line policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
    Whenever an opportunity presented itself, the U.S. pressurized and blackmailed the south Korean authorities to cooperate with Washington in implementing the policy.
    In March 2001 Bush summoned the then south Korean chief executive to Washington and wrested from him assurances that he would advance the south-north relations depending on the progress made in the north Korea-U.S. relations, adjust the tempo in the implementation of his north Korea policy as requested by the U.S. and that he would consult with the U.S each phase of its progress. In May last year, too, the Bush ruling quarters called the new chief executive of south Korea to Washington in a bid to pressurize him to support its attempt to apply economic sanctions and mount military attacks on the DPRK under the pretext of the nuclear issue. They had this stipulated in the south Korea-U.S. joint statement as an "additional measure," thus pushing the north-south relations to the phase of distrust and confrontation.
    The Bush group in a "state of the union address" made at Congress early in 2002, two years after it came to power, let loose malignant vituperation against the DPRK, terming it part of an "axis of evil". In February he flew into Seoul and toured areas along the Military Demarcation Line, egging the south Korean authorities on to incite confrontation with the north.
    The skirmish that took place in the West Sea in June 2002 was a typical example of the military provocations the U.S. orchestrated to block the north-south relations from improving.
    The indictment blamed the U.S. for disturbing the inter-Korean dialogue and contacts. It continued:
    No sooner had the June 15 joint declaration been published than the U.S. forced the south Korean authorities to get U.S. approval of every move to go ahead with their north Korea policy including government-level aid to the north, to say nothing of political and military negotiations, saying that the south's contact with the north without the knowledge of the U.S. is a very serious development which should no longer be allowed.
    It was the U.S. that barred the north and the south from holding the fifth and the sixth north-south ministerial talks and the second meeting of the North-South Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation and the second round of the talks between authorities of the north and the south for the revitalization of Mt. Kumgang tour as scheduled.
    The Panel for the North-South Cooperation in Power Industry could not meet any more after its first session held in Pyongyang under an agreement reached at the 4th north-south ministerial talks. It was also directly attributable to the U.S. moves to stifle the DPRK with nukes.
    The U.S. prevented the north-south dialogue and contacts from taking place and instigated pro-U.S. conservative forces including the Grand National Party of south Korea to hinder dialogue and contacts between the north and the south.
    On March 12 last, the U.S. wirepulled the right-wing conservative forces in south Korea including the Grand National Party to stage a political coup called a "motion on impeachment against the president" and conducted large joint military exercises targeted against the north together with bellicose forces in south Korea. This rendered it impossible to hold the north-south working meeting of the Panel for the Settlement of Accounts, the north-south meeting of the Panel for the Flood Control in the River Rimjin, a north-south working contact for the reconnection of rail and road links as scheduled.
    The indictment also accused the U.S. of hamstringing cooperation and exchange between the north and the south. It went on:
    The U.S. dropped a check-bar on the overall inter-Korean economic cooperation undertakings, saying that 386 type computers may be used for a military purpose when several of them are linked together, chemical fertilizers should not be allowed as they may be used for producing conventional explosives and there should be a verification of food delivery as it may go to the army. It even reproached south Korea, asserting that it is hard to cooperate with Seoul if it goes ahead of Washington, draining resources for north Korea when Washington is keen to contain Pyongyang and stop it from developing nukes and missiles on the principle of mutual aid and verification.
    The U.S. has hamstrung the project of reconnecting the rail and road links between the north and the south, arrogantly interfering in it.
    When the project of demining areas along the Demilitarized Zone for the reconnection of rail and road links between the north and the south was making progress at its final phase in November 2002, the U.S. put the brake on the project, asking the north to submit a list of members of the verification team to the "UN Command" all of a sudden.
    It even scotched the tour of Mt. Kumgang, an undertaking symbolic of reconciliation and cooperation between the north and the south.
    This obstruction has got more pronounced since the appearance of the Bush administration.
    Those south Koreans related to the Pyongyang meeting were punished though they had contributed to the righteous undertakings for national unity and reunification and a businessman who played a pace-setter's role in north-south cooperation met a tragic death due to the case of "remittance to the north." This was also invented and hyped up by the U.S. to serve its purpose of plot-breeding and smear campaign.
    It is due to the U.S. obstructions that the construction of the Kaesong Industrial Zone has been at a standstill for four years since the first agreement was reached between the north and the south.
    The north and south sides at several rounds of ministerial talks and talks and contacts at all levels including meetings of the committee for the promotion of economic cooperation discussed issues related to the construction of the zone and reached agreements on important issues ranging from principled matters to details.
    However, the U.S. has put increased pressure on south Korea as regards this construction. In consequence, only a large number of persons and vehicles from the south side visited the area of Kaesong, not doing anything to speak of.
    All facts go to clearly prove that the U.S. is chiefly to blame for hamstringing the north-south cooperation for the common prosperity of the Korean nation as it has impertinently poked its nose in the Korean nation's business.