South Korea Vows Not to Back Down in Military Standoff With North

The New York Time | By CHOE SANG-HUN  AUG. 24, 2015

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South Korea — President Park Geun-hye of South Korea vowed on Monday not to back down in a military standoff with North Korea, as top negotiators from both countries haggled for a third straight day in border talks aimed at defusing tensions.

Ms. Park hinted at what has caused a logjam in the talks when she reaffirmed that South Korea would not turn off its propaganda loudspeakers at the border unless the North apologized for maiming two border guards from the South with land mines this month. Pyongyang had already denied responsibility for the episode and instead vowed that it would attack the loudspeakers unless Seoul turned them off.

“This is a matter that concerns our national security and the safety of our people,” Ms. Park said during a meeting with senior presidential aides, according to her office. “We will never back down even if the North continues to escalate the provocative situation and threaten our security, as it often has in the past.”

Ms. Park’s posturing came as North Korea deployed more artillery pieces, submarines and other forces along the border in an apparent move to increase its leverage at the talks. On Monday, the South’s Defense Ministry said it was closely monitoring the movement of the North’s amphibious landing craft, which were designed to carry special forces in an invasion.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the ministry, also said that the United States military remained “flexible in considering the deployment of its strategic assets.” Mr. Kim did not elaborate.

Brinkmanship and tough talk are usually North Korea’s favorite cards in inter-Korean dialogue. But Ms. Park has also developed a reputation for insisting on a strong stance in dealing with the North since she came to office amid high tensions caused by the North’s third nuclear test in February 2013.

“In order to stop the repeating cycle of provocations and anxiety, we need a clear apology and commitment from the North that these things will not happen again,” Ms. Park said on Monday.

Her liberal critics say her rigid approach has only worsened tensions by driving the isolated North toward increasingly reckless steps to gain attention. But her tough stance, as during the nuclear crisis in 2013, has tended to endear her to conservative South Koreans who have grown weary of trying to persuade the North’s leaders with economic incentives. Ms. Park’s approval ratings have grown since the current standoff began last week, local surveys indicate.

But a prolonged military standoff, or any fear that the Korean Peninsula is headed toward an armed conflict, is bad news for the South’s economy. Its currency, the won, slipped on Monday to its lowest since late 2011, partly because of military uncertainty. The benchmark Kospi stock index has also declined for a sixth day.

Global funds pulled $903 million from South Korean equities last week, fueling concern that the revival of tensions on the peninsula will hasten outflows as investors withdraw from emerging markets after the devaluation of the Chinese renminbi, Bloomberg reported.

Already testy relations rose sharply after two South Korean border guards were seriously wounded on Aug. 4 by land mines that the South said were planted by the North. In retaliation, South Korea redeployed its loudspeaker batteries along the border to blare propaganda, reviving a tactic suspended 11 years ago.

Tensions further escalated after the rival militaries exchanged artillery fire on Thursday.

The two sides agreed to dialogue only hours before a 5 p.m. deadline on Saturday that the North had set for the South to withdraw the loudspeakers or face “strong military action,” including attacks on the speakers.

The negotiations in the border village of Panmunjom are being led by top security officials: Kim Kwan-jin, Ms. Park’s senior national security adviser, and Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, North Korea’s most powerful military officer after its leader, Kim Jong-un.

Source: The New York Time