SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea threatened
on Tuesday to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 civil war and
sever a military "hotline" with the United States if South Korea and
Washington pressed on with two-month-long war games.
It was a notable sharpening in the North's often bellicose
rhetoric and followed word from U.N. diplomats that the United States
and China had struck a tentative deal on a draft U.N. Security Council
sanctions resolution that would punish North Korea for its third nuclear
test, which it conducted last month."We will completely nullify the Korean armistice," the North's KCNA news agency said, quoting the Korean People's Army (KPA) Supreme Command spokesman. more pix after the cut...
"The war exercise being done by the United States and the puppet south Korea is a systematic act of destruction aimed at the Korean armistice."
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
"Related to that, we will be making the decision in parallel to cut off the Panmunjom DPRK-U.S. military hotline."
North Korea, officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has made much of hotlines with the South and the United States over the years, but has not been known ever to have used them in times of increased tension.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the U.N. diplomats said they hoped to receive the draft resolution on North Korea at Tuesday's council session. They added that they would like to see the council vote on the resolution by the end of this week.
"I hope to see a draft tomorrow perhaps, but you know it's up to the Americans," a diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Details of the draft were not immediately available.
The U.N. press office announced separately that Russia, which holds the presidency of the 15-nation Security Council this month, would convene closed-door consultations on North Korea at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) in New York on Tuesday.
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