(Yonhap Interview) China expects N.K. economic ties to help stability on peninsula
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's deepening economic reliance on China is expected to help maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula and Beijing hopes to continue to play a constructive role for Seoul and Pyongyang in improving relations through reconciliation, Beijing's ambassador to Seoul said Monday.
In a written interview with Yonhap News Agency marking the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Beijing, Ambassador Zhang Xinsen also called for both South Korea and China to make efforts to build a relationship of mutual respect, mindful of oft-strained ties over North Korea, history issues and illegal fishing near the Yellow Sea.
"The economic cooperation between North Korea and China not only helps develop North Korea's economy but also helps with peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Zhang said.
"It is China's long-standing stance that dialogue and negotiation are the only and right way to resolve relevant issues on the Korean Peninsula and achieve lasting peace."
Zhang made the remarks days after Chinese President Hu Jintao met the powerful uncle of North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un last week in Beijing, in a display of support for the North's new leadership.
and then one day later...
N. Korea repeats threats against South-U.S. military drills
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North
Korea threatened use of force on Tuesday as the country ramped up its
vitriolic campaign against the ongoing joint military exercise by the
South and the U.S.
The North has long denounced the annual military drills, which kicked off in South Korea on Monday for a 12-day run.
The annual war game mobilized some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers this year. The Combined Forces Command here said it informed the North the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise is "defensive in nature," but Pyongyang has insisted it is "drills for a war" against the North.
"The war drills ... prove that the U.S. is the harasser of peace and provoker of a war in the new century that upsets the stability on the Korean Peninsula," said a statement by the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army, carried by the (North) Korean Central News Agency.
"As it has become clearer that the nation's sovereignty and peace which are more valuable than one's own life can be guaranteed only by arms, the army and people of the DPRK will take physical counteraction any moment, unhindered, to safeguard its sovereignty and peace," the English-language statement reads.
"The DPRK can not but take the resolve to use force," the North noted, referring the military drills as "an actual war scenario." DPRK is the initials of the North's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Seoul vowed earlier in the day that it will take much stronger actions than usual in the event of North Korea launching an artillery attack during the war exercise. The two Koreas have often fired artillery shells near the sea border a few days prior to the start of the annual military event.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
The North has long denounced the annual military drills, which kicked off in South Korea on Monday for a 12-day run.
The annual war game mobilized some 56,000 South Korean troops and about 30,000 U.S. soldiers this year. The Combined Forces Command here said it informed the North the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise is "defensive in nature," but Pyongyang has insisted it is "drills for a war" against the North.
"The war drills ... prove that the U.S. is the harasser of peace and provoker of a war in the new century that upsets the stability on the Korean Peninsula," said a statement by the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army, carried by the (North) Korean Central News Agency.
"As it has become clearer that the nation's sovereignty and peace which are more valuable than one's own life can be guaranteed only by arms, the army and people of the DPRK will take physical counteraction any moment, unhindered, to safeguard its sovereignty and peace," the English-language statement reads.
"The DPRK can not but take the resolve to use force," the North noted, referring the military drills as "an actual war scenario." DPRK is the initials of the North's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Seoul vowed earlier in the day that it will take much stronger actions than usual in the event of North Korea launching an artillery attack during the war exercise. The two Koreas have often fired artillery shells near the sea border a few days prior to the start of the annual military event.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
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