N. Korea demands U.N. Command's dissolution

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea renewed its demand on Monday that the
U.S.-led United Nations Command in the South, which oversees a truce on the
Korean Peninsula, be dismantled, accusing the organization of providing a pretext
for U.S. military aggression.
North Korea routinely calls for the dissolution of the U.N. Command, a legacy of
the 1950-53 Korean War. But the latest criticism comes in the wake of a naval
skirmish along the de facto inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, which was
unilaterally drawn by the U.N. Command after the war and has since been a source
of constant tension.
In a commentary, the Rodong Sinmun, the North's major newspaper published by the
Workers' Party, cited remarks by Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. forces in
South Korea, who in a Nov. 4 speech in Japan asserted the need to keep the U.N.
Command in South Korea for regional peace.
"No matter how desperately the U.S. may try to hype the importance of the
existence of the ghostlike 'U.N. Command' in a bid to justify the presence of its
forces in South Korea and increase its influence in Northeast Asia, it can never
cover up its injustice and illegality," the paper said.
"If the U.S. truly has a will to prevent war on the Korean Peninsula and ensure
peace in Northeast Asia, it should disband as early as possible the 'U.N.
Command,'" the paper argued. The commentary was carried by the North's Korean
Central News Agency.
Led by U.S. forces, the U.N. Command fought on South Korea's side during the
Korean War. Its Military Armistice Commission was set up under the armistice to
oversee the cease-fire on the peninsula.
Such legacy surfaced again after the navies of the South and the North exchanged
gunfire in the Yellow Sea border on Tuesday. North Korea has never recognized the
U.N.-drawn western maritime border, called the Northern Limit Line, and has
demanded the line be drawn further south.
Skirmishes there claimed scores of lives on both sides in 1999 and 2002. In last
week's confrontation, the South suffered no casualties, while a North Korean boat
retreated engulfed in flames.
Days later, North Korea warned of "merciless" military actions to defend its
self-claimed border.
Tensions on the peninsula and the North's nuclear program are expected to be high
on the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits South Korea later this week
as part of his first Asia trip.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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