{"id":150667,"date":"2018-02-01T22:24:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T03:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=150667"},"modified":"2018-02-01T22:24:24","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T03:24:24","slug":"north-korea-says-us-actions-threaten-inter-korean-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/01\/north-korea-says-us-actions-threaten-inter-korean-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea says US actions threaten inter Korean relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: North Korea and South Korea (Pixabay Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

North Korea’s foreign minister is warning the United States that its deployment of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and planned military exercises immediately after the Winter Olympics threaten improved relations between the two Koreas.<\/p>\n

Ri Yong Ho urged the United Nations not to remain silent about what he called \u201cthe U.S. dangerous game of aggravating (the) situation in and around the Korean peninsula and driving the whole world into a possible disaster of nuclear war.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres circulated late Thursday, he urged the U.N. chief to exert efforts to halt the U.S. deployment of equipment and the upcoming military manoeuvrs.<\/p>\n

Ri warned that the U.S. military actions are aimed \u201cto provoke a nuclear war, which will undermine the improvement of inter-Korean relations and the easing of tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North Korean minister also accused U.S. authorities of \u201cmisleading public opinion\u201d to believe the new inter-Korean dialogue is the result of \u201ctheir harshest sanctions and pressure imposed on our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather, Ri said, the \u201cdramatic turning point\u201d for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula \u201cwhere a touch-and-go war danger was prevailing is entirely thanks to the noble love for the nation by the respected comrade Kim Jong Un,\u201d North Korea’s leader.<\/p>\n

Kim unexpectedly said in his New Year’s address that he was willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics being held Feb. 9-25 in the South Korean county of Pyeongchang \u2014 and the South Korean government and\u00a0International<\/em><\/strong>Olympic Committee responded positively.<\/p>\n

As part of the rapprochement with Seoul, hundreds of North Korean officials, athletes, artists, journalists and a 230-member cheering group will be attending the Olympics, and athletes from the two Koreas will march together under a single flag during the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

Ri asked the U.N. Security Council in the letter to take up \u201cthe issue of welcoming the process of improved inter-Korean relations and discouraging the neighbouring countries from disturbing the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The efforts at reconciliation follow a year of heightened animosities over North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which Pyongyang says can now reach the U.S. mainland. There has been escalating rhetoric between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, including back-and-forth over their \u201cnuclear button.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some experts say North Korea may want to use improved ties with the South as a way to weaken U.S.-led\u00a0international<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0sanctions. Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in sees the Olympics as an opportunity to resume meaningful contact with North Korea following the extended period of tension and a diplomatic stalemate over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.<\/p>\n

Ri charged in the letter that the U.S. military is \u201cintentionally\u201d aggravating the situation in and around the Korean peninsula by deploying military reinforcements, including aircraft carrier strike groups, designed to make a \u201cpre-emptive strike\u201d on North Korea at a time when the two Koreas \u201care charting a course of peace together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a primary factor which would block the inter-Korean reconciliation process and drive the situation of the Korean peninsula into an unpredictable dangerous phase,\u201d Ri warned.<\/p>\n

He said that whenever joint U.S.-South Korean exercises take place \u2014 as the U.S. has announced for immediately after the Olympics \u2014 peace and security on the peninsula are \u201cgravely threatened and the inter-Korean mistrust and confrontation reached the top.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea’s foreign minister is warning the United States that its deployment of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and planned military exercises …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[45582,1509,406],"class_list":["post-150667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-korean-relations","tag-north-korea","tag-united-states","mauthors-edith-m-lederer","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}