Tensions high on Korean Peninsula

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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North Korea put its armed forces on standby yesterday and threatened "a war" if anyone tries to shoot down what regional powers suspect is an imminent test-firing of a long-range missile. The warning - the latest barrage of threats from the isolated regime - came as U.S. and South Korean troops kicked off annual war games across the South, exercises the North has condemned as preparation for an invasion. Pyongyang last week threatened South Korean passenger planes flying near its airspace during the drills.

Pyongyang also cut off a military hot line with the South, causing a complete shutdown of their border and stranding hundreds of South Koreans working in an industrial zone in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. Analysts said the regime is trying to grab President Barack Obama's attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy.

The North indicated it was pushing ahead with plans to send a communications satellite into space, a provocative launch neighboring governments believe could be a cover for a long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska, according to an account by The Associated Press.

U.S. and Japanese officials have suggested they could shoot down a North Korean missile if necessary, further incensing Pyongyang. "Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," the general staff of the military said in a statement carried yesterday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Retaliatory strike

Obama's special envoy on North Korea again urged Pyongyang not to fire a missile, which he said would be an "extremely ill-advised" move. "Whether they describe it as a satellite launch or something else makes no difference" since both would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity, Stephen Bosworth told reporters after talks with his South Korean counterpart.

South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman downplayed the North's threats as "rhetoric" but said the country's military was ready to deal with any contingencies. Analysts said a satellite or missile launch could occur late this month or in early April when the North's new legislature is expected to convene its first session to confirm Kim Jong Il as leader.

Ties between the two Koreas have plunged since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office a year ago halting aid unless the North fulfills an international promise to dismantle its nuclear program. Severing the military hot line for the duration of the 12-day joint U.S.-South Korean drill leaves the two Koreas without any means of communication at a time of heightened tensions.

Meanwhile, amid high tensions North Korea also released the names of newly elected lawmakers yesterday, but the youngest son of leader Kim Jong-Il was not among them despite speculation that he was the favored successor, Seoul's Yonhap news agency reported.

The name of Kim Jong-Un, 26, was absent from the list of 687 lawmakers - including his father - which was announced by Korean Central TV, according to Agence France-Presse news agency. The Supreme People's Assembly, whose deputies were elected Sunday, is a rubber-stamp parliament and only one pre-approved candidate can stand in each constituency. But the elections are seen as paving the way for a new generation and an eventual transition of power in the impoverished nation.