Separately, Kim Jin Moo, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in Seoul commented that the UFG military exercise should have limited effect on the US-North Korea relations.
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A few days ago, South Korea blamed the North for the two South Korean soldiers who were hurt by land mine explosions.
The Koreas put heightened tensions aside Tuesday to resolve a wage dispute that has overshadowed the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex since February.
A study of 10 years’ worth of exercises showed that the nature of the nations’ relationship before an exercise persisted after the drill, with positive relationships lasting “despite North Korean rhetoric to the contrary”.
Cha urged the United States and South Korea to “listen carefully” to North Korea.
The North has also targeted the US with its verbal broadsides, citing its nuclear arsenal amid threats of retaliation over Ulchi Freedom.
In 2009, North Korea announced that it had “tremendous military muscle and its own method of strike able to conquer any targets in its vicinity at one stroke or hit the U.S. on the raw, if necessary”.
They said it was in violation of the armistice agreement and non-aggression treaty.
Investigators believe the mines were planted between July 22-when the gate was last used-and the day of the attack, the first of its kind in 48 years, South Korean officials say.
Signs that North Korea is shutting down dialogue can also be seen in a recent spate of rejections of South Korean proposals for talks. “The North got practical results, and the South Korean administration upheld its principles”.
The new wage is slightly below the $3.65 increase, or 5.18 percent, North Korea had demanded, which exceeded the annual increase of 5 percent agreed when the zone was established.
The Unification Ministry has said that the North’s move is feared to deepen differences between the two Koreas and to run counter to efforts to promote inter-Korean cooperation and prepare for a peaceful unification.
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An influential North Korean politician in charge of South Korea affairs has been absent from public service since late 2014 and Seoul’s officials have not ruled out the possibility of a purge.
