North Korea Cuts Last Military Hotline With South

[News_Editor]

<p>PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (BNO NEWS) -- North Korea cut its military hotline with the South on Wednesday, saying that military talks between the two nations are not needed at a time when war can break out at "any moment," just a day after North Korean forces were put at their highest alert.

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<p>The decision was announced at 11:20 a.m. local time on Wednesday when a senior North Korean military official used the hotline to call the South's military. The unidentified official, the head of the North's delegation to North-South Korean general-level talks, said the situation is becoming "grim" as massive South Korea-U.S. military drills continue.

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<p>"Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep North-South military communications which were laid between the militaries of both sides," the military official said during the call. "War and confrontation can never go together with dialogue and reconciliation under any circumstances."

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<p>The official said there would be no direct talks between the two countries from now on. "I inform the South side that the North-South military communications will be cut off and the members of the North side at the military communications liaison office in the zone under the control of the North and the South in the west coastal area will stop their activities from this moment," he said.

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<p>The military official said the communication channels would remain cut until South Korea halts its "anachronistic hostile acts" against the North. "Not words but only arms will work on the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces," he said, adding that the North's will would be displayed through "practical physical counteraction."

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<p>South Korea's Unification Ministry described the move as "unhelpful" and said it could affect the safe operation of the inter-Korean joint industrial complex in the North's Kaesong. When North Korea cut the military hotline in 2008, a number of South Korean workers at the facility were left stranded in the North.

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<p>There are no normal direct telephone links between the two countries, but three telephone hotlines remain operational to exchange information about air traffic.

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<p>In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the North's decision to cut the military hotline is "not constructive to ensuring peace and stability on the peninsula." He added that the U.S. government has its own way of communicating with North Korea, and said the channel of communication is still in place.

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<p>Wednesday's announcement came just a day after North Korea's army said it has put its artillery and rocket forces at their highest alert after nuclear-capable B-52 bombers participated in ongoing South Korea-U.S. drills, warning that the Korean Peninsula is moving closer to war.

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<p>"The U.S. nuclear war racket has gone beyond the danger line and entered the phase of an actual war, defying the repeated warnings from the army and people of the DPRK," the Korean People's Army (KPA) said in Tuesday's statement, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

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<p>The KPA's Supreme Command said it ordered its artillery and rocket forces which are assigned to U.S. bases to be put at their highest level of alert. It said the units are targeting U.S. bases on the U.S. mainland, the U.S. state of Hawaii, the unincorporated U.S. territory of Guam, and other U.S. targets in the Pacific Ocean and South Korea.

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<p>The North Korean government regularly threatens the United States and South Korea, but the rhetoric has become increasingly concerning after the North declared the Korean War Armistice Agreement nullified from March 11. The agreement, signed in July 1953, put into force a cease-fire in an effort to end the Korean War.

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<p>Earlier this month, North Korea's foreign ministry threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States in response to massive military exercises in the region this month. The U.S. later decided to place 14 additional ground-based interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to counter any North Korean attack.

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<p>And on March 7, the United Nations (UN) Security Council voted in favor of tough new sanctions to punish the reclusive country for its latest nuclear test. The sanctions aim to significantly impede North Korea's ability to further develop nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its proliferation activities.

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<p>Sanctions were first imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council following nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, including a ban on the import of nuclear and missile technology. The sanctions were further tightened in January 2013 after the country launched a long-range Unha-3 rocket which North Korea claimed to be a weather satellite, but other countries have described it as a long-range missile test in disguise.

</p> <p> (Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].) </p>

[F430murci]

And . . . They are like the little kid bully that keeps making some stupid threats that everyone just laughs at. We hang up the phone. No response. Now we cut the line. No response. Now we throw the phone real hard over the border. That'll teach them.

[Lite Beer]

Off Topic Post removed.

[NeverSure]

I honestly wish N. Korea would attack S. Korea and get it over with. Talk about an evil empire.

The US has been moving much of its navy into the area, and has set up a missile defense system, including the ability to shoot down ICBM's. The US has a treaty (that means it would be a treat haha) to protect S. Korea and Japan and some others in the area.

I'd like to see N. Korea turned into a glass parking lot.

[Steely Dan]

I guess the North Korean spring must be on the way.

[jamhar]

Seriously, they have done all the threatening they can possibly do. They don't have much chest beating options left. I think they've painted themselves into a corner. They either have to do something or whimper away.

If history is any guidance, the NK's have not hesitated to bomb, kidnap or torpedo the SK's. The US/SK have stated that the next occurrence will not go unchallenged.

The stage is set. But the Chinese, SK's, and US don't seem all hot and bothered by it.

What are we not seeing?

[a99az]

I honestly wish N. Korea would attack S. Korea and get it over with. Talk about an evil empire.

The US has been moving much of its navy into the area, and has set up a missile defense system, including the ability to shoot down ICBM's. The US has a treaty (that means it would be a treat haha) to protect S. Korea and Japan and some others in the area.

I'd like to see N. Korea turned into a glass parking lot.

I would rather see a lasting peace that could lead to the north and south being reunified, with out the loss of a single life. But I am what you would call a dreamer. Imagine.

[F430murci]

And . . . They are like the little kid bully that keeps making some stupid threats that everyone just laughs at. We hang up the phone. No response. Now we cut the line. No response. Now we throw the phone real hard over the border. That'll teach them.

I hope they can throw that phone really high . . . B2s on their way to SK.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/28/17498063-nuclear-capable-stealth-bombers-sent-to-south-korea-amid-kim-jong-uns-threats?lite

Oh, and what moron leader telegraphs that his country about to go to war with you. We are cutting our lines because war could break out at any moment now. Haha, seems like the prudent tact would to be act friendly and strike without warning if you really wanted to kick some arse.

Edited March 28, 2013 by F430murci

[NeverSure]

That round trip B2 flight was the equivalent of flying non-stop around the world for distance. And the fkn N. Koreans couldn't even see the planes. If they had, they don't have anti-aircraft missiles that will reach that high.

I'd say they'd better watch their mouths. Do they think the US won't attack someone, or something like that? They might want to check with Libya.

The US has a solemn treaty to protect several Asian area nations including S. Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, and even Thailand among others.

Fkn commie losers up North.

[Hedghog]

He is winding the Yanks up,like a clockwork toy.

Got to love it.

[Scott]

//Closed//

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