Alarm rises as N Korea threatens attack

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Financial Times:

North Korea threatened to scrap all military assurance agreements with South Korea on Thursday and warned of an immediate attack should Seoul intrude on the disputed maritime border, further raising tensions on the peninsula.

Pyongyang’s threat to abandon the agreements – designed to prevent accidental armed clashes and protect the safety of South Korean workers in a Northern factory enclave – came as Seoul elevated its alert level and began anti-submarine exercises off the west coast of the peninsula.

The threats mark the most serious deterioration in relations between the neighbours, who are still officially at war, in more than a decade and have rattled international markets. They stabilised on Thursday and financial regulators in Seoul said overseas investors had overreacted to the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, in March. The Korean won rose to Won1,224 per dollar for the first time in six sessions and the benchmark Kospi index closed up 1.6 per cent.

A joint international team last week found that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan.

North Korea “will completely nullify an accord which was signed by the two sides to prevent accidental clashes” in the Yellow Sea, Pyongyang’s official Korea Central News Agency said. The area is the scene of deadly clashes in the past.

Pyongyang also warned of an immediate attack. Seoul, the South Korean capital and home to more than 20m people, is in range of its artillery.
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Given the way things have been going lately, I wouldn't put it past them...