North/South Korea

Pyongyang scraps all deals with the South

Article published on the 2009-01-30 Latest update 2009-01-30 17:29 TU

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il
(Photo: Reuters)

North Korea announced Friday that it is withdrawing from all political and military agreements with South Korea, accusing Seoul of pushing relations to the brink of war.

All agreements will be nullified, including one covering their Yellow Sea border, where deadly clashes occurred in 1999 and 2002.

Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, expressed “deep regret.”

The North accused the conservative South Korean government of President Lee Myung-Bak for “ruthlessly scrapping” pacts reached at summits in 2000 and 2007.

Lee, who took office a year ago, rolled back the “sunshine” engagement policy of his liberal predecessors and said he would review the summit pacts that called for South Korean economic development in the North.

Aiden Foster-Carter of Leeds University in Britain, speaking with RFI, says that there are two reasons this is happening now. The North Korean government wants new US President Barack Obama to pay attention to the Korean situation, and that the south Korean government is pursuing a more aggressive agenda towards the North.

Kim Jong-Il’s illness, and speculation around a potential successor, could also be playing a role, Foster-Carter said.

The South’s “criticism of the Sunshine policy was that it was too one sided. North Korea was being given and given and given and wasn’t doing much in return.”

Foster-Carter also said that by trying to get the world’s interest, the North is trying to isolate the South. “The North Koreans will try to deal with America and exclude South Korea. I don’t think that they’ll succeed in that, but that’s their game,” he said.