Question is, could there be an escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula eventually leading to an armed conflict?
Korea: Confrontation Threat Is Growing](Austin360: News about restaurants, music and things to do in Austin TX) Austin American Statesman
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA. 04 Mar 03, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)–After North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane, the communist country said Tuesday the threat of armed confrontation on the Korean Peninsula was growing because of what it called U.S. aggression. North Korea did not comment on the interception of the plane. Its state-run media instead criticized annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises that began Tuesday, saying they were preparation for an attack. The exercise, named Foal Eagle, ends April 2. ``This Foal Eagle exercise is escalating the danger of armed clashes on the Korean Peninsula,‘’ said Minju Joson, a North Korean newspaper.
``If the eagle swoops down on us, a nuclear war will break out and it is clear that the whole Korean nation will not escape nuclear holocaust,‘’ said the report, which was monitored by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. North Korea routinely condemns such exercises, but the belligerent rhetoric and the interception of the American plane come amid fears the North could make nuclear bombs within months.
U.S. military officials say the annual maneuver is ``defense-oriented’’ and is not related to the nuclear dispute. Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said four North Korean fighter jets had approached the U.S. plane over the Sea of Japan on Sunday, coming as close as 50 feet. One used its radar to identify the plane as a target, but there was no hostile fire, he said.
Davis said it was the first such incident since 1969, when a North Korean plane shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121 surveillance plane, killing all 31 Americans aboard. In an interview with 14 U.S. newspapers, President Bush repeated the American stance that the situation can be resolved with diplomacy. According to The Baltimore Sun, Bush said that while the military option has not been taken off the table, it would be a last resort.
Asked how successful diplomatic efforts have been, Bush said: It's in process. If they don't work diplomatically, they'll have to work militarily. And military option is our last choice. Options are on the table, but I believe we can deal with this diplomatically. I truly do.'' **In a commentary, North Korea's Minju Joson described Bush as a political illiterate and a shameless impostor who has dull senses of the times.‘’**
The newspaper also appealed to South Koreans, who host 37,000 U.S. soldiers on their soil, to join North Korea in resisting the United States. The interception of the U.S. plane appeared to be part of an effort to pressure the United States into negotiations on chief North Korean aims: a nonaggression treaty and economic aid. ``The reckless move is a signal to the United States at a time when Washington pays little attention to North Korea’s repeated demand for direct dialogue,‘’ said Lee Suk-soo, a military studies professor at the National Defense College in Seoul.
North Korea on Tuesday reiterated its demand for a nonaggression pact, saying through Radio Pyongyang that it was ``to remove an unreasonable U.S. threat, not to gain something.‘’ The radio was monitored by Yonhap. Washington, which is preparing for a possible war against Iraq, says it will not be blackmailed into concessions and that North Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons are a multilateral issue. The U.N. Security Council is expected to debate the matter.
North Korea test-fired a missile into the sea off its east coast on the eve of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun’s inauguration last week. On Feb. 20, a North Korean MiG-19 warplane crossed over the South’s western sea border, but retreated after South Korean jets flew to the area. Last week, U.S. officials said North Korea had restarted a nuclear reactor that is at the center of a suspected weapons program. The reactor could yield enough plutonium for an atomic bomb in about a year, experts say.
North Korea, which has warned a U.S. attack on its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon would trigger war, could also decide to reactivate a reprocessing facility near the reactor. Such a move could allow it to make several nuclear bombs within months, according to defense analysts. The United States believes the North already has one or two nuclear bombs. North Korean complaints about reconnaissance flights by U.S. planes had grown more frequent before the incident Sunday. On Saturday, the North said a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane intruded into its airspace off the east coast daily for a week.
The current nuclear dispute began in October when U.S. officials said the North acknowledged it had a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement. Washington and its allies suspended oil shipments and North Korea responded by moving to reactivate frozen nuclear facilities and withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.