Nation & world briefing
North Korea threatens to drop
treaty that ended Korean War
Michael Zielenziger
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
TOKYO — North Korea threat
ened Tuesday to abandon the 1953
armistice that ended the Korean War
if the United States launches sanc
tions to punish the country for try
ing to develop nuclear weapons.
The threat came a day after re
ports that the Bush administration is
developing plans for sanctions
against Pyongyang that would in
clude halting its weapons shipments
and cutting off the flow of money
from Koreans living in Japan. Such
money is crucial to North Korea and
helps to keep its economy afloat.
North Korea's threat increases
tensions in Asia while the United
States would prefer to focus on an
other troublesome adversary, Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
Pyongyang upped the ante in its
war of words with the United States,
charging that Washington is poised
to launch a military blockade that
would cripple the country.
A spokesman for the North Kore
an People’s Army said such a move
would force his nation to abandon
the cease-fire that has left the Kore
an peninsula divided for 50 years.
“The KPA (Korean People’s Army)
side will be left with no option but to
take a decisive step to abandon its
commitment to implement the
armistice agreement as a signatory to
it and free itself from the binding
force of all its provisions, regarding
the possible sanctions to be taken by
the U.S. side against the DPRK (North
Korea),-’ said the statement, issued by
the Korea Central News Agency,
quoting a military spokesman.
The spokesman said the “grave
situation created by the undisguised
war acts committed by the U.S. in
breach of the armistice agreement
compels the Korean People’s Army
side, its warring party, to immediate
ly take all steps to cope with it.
“If the U.S. side continues violat
ing and misusing the armistice
agreement as it pleases, there will
be no need for the (North) to re
main bound to the armistice agree
ment uncomfortably.”
North and South Korea remain
technically at war, and North Korea’s
Withdrawal from the armistice would
theoretically leave Pyongyang free to
launch new assaults against South
Korea. Its withdrawal also would
force the United Nations to abandon
its peacekeeping mission in the de
militarized zones. U.S. soldiers sta
tioned along the tense border be
tween the countries technically
serve under U.N. Command. U.N.
forces signed the original treaty with
North Korea and China.
Last week, the International
Atomic Energy Agency voted to ask
the U.N. Security Council to explore
ways to force Pyongyang to comply
with an international treaty banning
proliferation of nuclear weapons.
North Korea recently bowed out of
the treaty and booted international
inspectors out of the country, saying
it intends to start producing electric
ity from its tiny reactor at Yongbyon.
Weapons experts think the country
intends to reprocess spent plutoni
um to develop nuclear bombs.
The North Koreans fear that the
Bush administration intends to attack
its regime after concluding a military
campaign against Iraq, and they say
that only face-to-face talks with
Washington can resolve the standoff.
The country demands a non-ag
gression pact promising North Ko
rea's sovereignty.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Israeli troops kill top Hamas fugitive
cnnstme Spolar
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
JERUSALEM — Israeli troops
* killed a top Hamas fugitive and de
stroyed the home of another militant
in the Gaza Strip on Monday in what
appeared to be a second day of retal
iation against the influential Islamic
militant group.
The attacks followed other vio
lence in Gaza over the weekend, in
cluding the deaths of six members of
Hamas in an explosion Sunday and
the killings of four Israeli soldiers in
an attack on a tank Saturday for
which Hamas claimed responsibility.
Monday’s action was character
ized by some Israeli media as the
launch of a fierce operation in Gaza
against Hamas, which is blamed for
dozens of deadly assaults. Israeli
army officials would not discuss the
breadth of the latest army assault.
In the death of the Hamas mili
tant, Israeli troops leaped from a van
filled with vegetables as Riyad Abu
Zeid traveled along Gaza’s coastal
road, the Associated Press reported.
In an exchange of gunfire, Abu Zeid
was Wounded, the army said.
Israeli troops seized Abu Zeid,
who died as he was being taken by
helicopter to an Israeli hospital, the
army said.
The army described Abu Zeid, 32,
as a senior member of Hamas’ military
wing who had organized attacks
against Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip
and suicide bombings inside Israel.
Earlier Monday, Israeli tanks and
helicopters surrounded the five-sto
ry home of Ahmed Ghandour, re
portedly a top aide to a Hamas
bombmaker. Ghandour, who re
mains in hiding, allegedly is linked to
planning the weekend tank attack in
which four Israeli soldiers died.
Army officials said troops or
dered people out of the building in
Gaza City, and Palestinian gunmen
attacked. Soldiers returned fire, the
army said. Hospital officials later
said a Palestinian policeman and a
suspected militant were killed and
five people wounded. The house
was destroyed.
The focus on Hamas comes three
weeks after Israeli Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz hinted that Israel might
take over Gaza. Pressure is mount
ing on Gaza and Hamas amid failed
attempts at a cease-fire among Pales
tinian factions.
On Monday, Israel and the Pales
tinians sent delegations to London to
meet with mediators from the Unit
ed States, Russia, the United Nations
and the European Union to discuss a
possible peace plan. The Mideast
mediators have been working for
months with little Success.
Israel appeared to be preparing
other fronts in its war against Pales
tinian militancy. According to the Is
raeli daily IIa’aretz, the Israeli army
plans to double the capacity of the
Ketsiot detention center east of
Gaza, to 2,400 prisoners.
Israel’s detention centers are
packed after more than two years of
arrests in the West Bank and Gaza
since the outbreak of the violence in
September 2000 and, according to
media reports here, about 5,000
Palestinians are held by Israel.
© 2003. Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
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