Korean rivals in spat over explosions

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye demanded yesterday that North Korea apologise over recent landmine blasts, even as the bitter rivals held marathon talks to defuse tension that has brought the peninsula back to the brink of armed conflict.

Park said anti-North propaganda broadcasts would continue unless Pyongyang took responsibility for landmine explosions early this month that wounded two South Korean soldiers in the demilitarised zone separating the two countries.

North Korea denies it laid the mines. Seoul and Pyongyang have remained in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

The landmine blasts escalated into a crisis that saw both sides exchange artillery fire on Thurs- day and ramp up their military readiness. The UN, the US and the North’s lone major ally, China, have all called for calm.

While North Korea often makes threats, prompting tough talk from the South, the two sides have always stopped short of a return to war, although dozens of soldiers have been killed over the years. Analysts expect current tension eventually to ease.

“We need a clear apology and measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations and tense situations,” Park told her top aides, a statement released by her office said. “Otherwise, this government will take appropriate steps and continue loudspeaker broadcasts.”

Seoul and Washington were reviewing the possibility of bringing in “strategic” US military assets, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.

Two years ago, North Korea threatened military action in response to annual exercises by US and South Korean forces, leading to a stand-off during which US stealth bombers flew over South Korea and an aircraft carrier was sent to the area. – Reuters