The inter-Korean exchange was provoked by last Friday’s announcement by Seoul and the United States that they plan to deploy America’s powerful THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in the South by the end of next year – after months of intense rumors and negotiations, during which China and Russian Federation emphasized their opposition to the move.
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And it comes as the United States announced a plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea, called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.
North Korea is resorting to wartime laws to deal with the U.S. in response to Washington’s newly-introduced sanctions against Kim and other North Korean officials.
North Korea is threatening physical retribution against the United States in response to an anti-missile system that has been jointly deployed by South Korea and the U.S. Representatives from the reclusive nation said that it would make both countries “suffer from the nightmare of uneasiness and terror”.
In March this year, the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear tests and rocket launch.
On Monday, the North’s state media said it told the U.S. it will terminate contact through a United Nations channel in NY that allowed diplomats to communicate.
Experts also said it would dramatically complicate efforts to negotiate the release of two American citizens detained by North Korea.
After the North threatened to deal with them under wartime law, the USA urged Pyongyang to “cease what is obviously an improper and unjust detention of these individuals”.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye however defended the move as a “purely defensive” action aimed at protecting the South.
The South Korean defense ministry is expected to announce the deployment site within a few weeks.
The editorial ended by noting that China must face that fact that it is ” going through growing pains” and at the same time is “caught in the middle” of larger forces acting in the region, but must remain true to its own interests and act accordingly.
Analysts say Beijing is concerned about THAAD’s radar capability to monitor Chinese military installations and about Washington’s increasing military strength in the region.
The US is a close ally of South Korea, maintaining 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war.
North Korea is to cut its only remaining diplomatic channels with the United States after Washington blacklisted the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un.
USA and South Korean officials say THAAD only targets North Korea, but China and Russian Federation suspect it could also help US radars detect their own missiles.
The move to deploy the THAAD system also drew a swift and sharp protest from China.
The announcement was the latest move by the allies against the North, which conducted its fourth nuclear test this year.
Moon Sang-guyn, a spokesman for South Korea’s Defense Ministry, warned the North to not take “rash and foolish action”.
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Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for global and Strategic Studies think tank in February, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the deployment of the anti-missile system could jeopardize “China’s legitimate national security interests”.
