Tension intensifies on the Korean peninsula
(VOV) - The relationship between the two Koreas is tense, following the Republic of Korea (RoK) used loudspeakers to blare anti-Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) rhetoric across the border in retaliation for DPRK planting land mines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that wounded two RoK's soldiers last week.
The RoK's Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee says the DPRK has rejected the RoK’s proposal for high-level talks.
Tension continues
Two RoK's soldiers were seriously injured in a landmine explosion on August 4 in the DMZ, in the RoK’s Gyeonggi province. The soldiers were part of a team conducting a routine search operation.
At a press conference on August 10, Major-General Koo Hong-mo, chief of operations for the RoK's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said an investigation indicated that the DPRK's soldiers crossed the DMZ to plant land mines near a RoK's border station. He said the action violated a peace treaty between the two Koreas and asked the DPRK to apologize and punish the guilty parties. The DPRK has not commented on the incident.
Bruising consequences on both sides
On August 10, the RoK's Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min Seok said Seoul has decided to resume its communications campaign, for the first time in 11 years, along the border with the DPRK. Kim said the loudspeaker program calls the landmine explosion injuring two RoK's soldiers an act of provocation.
In 2004 the RoK and the DPRK agreed to stop border communication warfare. In 2010 Seoul resumed the communication program using loudspeakers and disseminating leaflets along the border in retaliation for the sinking of the warship Cheonnan, for which the RoK blamed on the DPRK. The communication program was later aborted when North Korea threatened to destroy the loudspeakers by artillery fire.
The DPRK said last week it will adjust its time zone 30 minutes later than the standard time the two Koreas currently use on August 15, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula liberation from Japanese colony.
The RoK's President Park Geun-hye said the DPRK’s unilateral time adjustment will widen differences and undermine efforts for inter-Korean cooperation and reunification.
More challenges to inter-Korean talks
On August 5, the RoK sent a letter on behalf of the Minister of Unification to DPRK’s United Front proposing high-level talks to discuss mutual concerns. So far the DPRK has not accepted the invitation.
The RoK government expressed its hope that inter-Korean relations will improve in the near future and promised to support cultural and sport exchanges. Last week, Lee Hee-ho, the wife of late President Kim Dae-jung, visited a pediatrics and obstetrics hospital, a retirement home for the elderly, and an orphanage in Pyongyang and donated medicines and necessities to the children.
The RoK's President Park Geun-hye has urged the DPRK to get involved in a trans-Siberia railway to Europe project. 87% of 500 RoK companies say they are interested in doing business in the DPRK when the two Koreas are unified.