N Korea warns against blockade

2003-06-17 13:13

Sang-Hun Choe

Seoul - North Korea has warned that a blockade by the United States and its allies could lead to war and Japan would not be safe from "the flames of war".

The warning came as the United States and its regional allies, most notably Japan and Australia, have begun cracking down on North Korean trade in illicit drugs, weapons and counterfeit money.

These are believed to be key sources of hard currency for Pyongyang to buttress its regime and its suspected nuclear weapons programmes.

Pyongyang's main state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on Tuesday charged that the United States was "laying an international siege to the north and putting a blockade against it as a premeditated scheme to start a new war on the Korean peninsula".

North Korea will take "physical retaliation," including "all means and methods an independent country can take", once it concludes that the recent moves by the allies violate its sovereignty, said Rodong in a commentary monitored by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

'Aggressors will become targets'

"There is no guarantee that this blockade will not lead to such a serious condition as a full-scale war," said Rodong.

"If war breaks out between the North and the United States, it will not be limited to the Korean Peninsula, but all the areas where aggressors are lurking will become our targets."

North Korea accused Japan of turning itself into the "base camp for US aggression against Korea" and co-operating with what it called a US plan to "stifle" North Korea.

"Given this background, once flames of war erupt on the Korean peninsula, they could quickly spread to Japan," said Rodong.

North Korea traditionally churns out sabre-rattling rhetoric when its relations with the outside world worsen.

Japan has been tightening safety and customs inspections of North Korean ships long suspected of smuggling missile parts and narcotics between the two countries.

In the past week, they have detained one cargo ship and blocked another from docking for safety violations.

The move came after a North Korean defector told US lawmakers last month that a North Korean ferry linking the two countries was used to smuggle missile parts.

Japan allows trade with North Korea on an informal basis, though the two countries have no diplomatic relations. Last year, 147 North Korean ships made more than 1 300 port calls in Japan.

In a joint statement in Hawaii last week, US, Japanese and South Korean officials expressed concern about the North's narcotics trafficking and counterfeiting, and said they had discussed co-operation to stop them. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA