Wire: North Korea Says Korean War Truce Over

Off the Wire:

UPDATE: The White House Wednesday afternoon discounted North Korea's threats with mainstream media outlets following suit by downplaying the news. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said that North Korea should live up to its promises and stop its provocations. Secretary of State Clinton is warned that North Korea will face consequences because of "provocative and belligerent" actions that include threatened military attacks against U.S. and South Korean warships. North Korea Wednesday launched its sixth missile test in a week.

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2009 -- Newswire services this afternoon reported that North Korea on Wednesday delivered an angry response to South Korea's decision a day earlier to join an effort to halt atomic-weapons trafficking, saying it would no longer stick to the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War of the 1950s.

The Wall Street Journal reported the following details:

"Any minor hostile acts, including cracking down on or searching our peaceful vessels, will be an unacceptable infringement of our republic's sovereignty," said the statement, issued by North Korea's military and broadcast by state media. "We will respond with immediate and strong military strike."

North Korea routinely uses war-like words in official statements when it is upset with actions taking place in the United Nations or the three countries it considers to be enemies – South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

The latest statement reiterated an earlier one that said South Korea's full participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative would amount to a "declaration of war" against it.

Analysts say the rapid succession of weapons tests and fiery statements may mark a change from a longtime pattern in which North Korea made a provocative action and then sought economic aid or security concessions not to do it again, the Wall Street Journal said.

This is a developing story.

(Report from newswire sources.)

Source: North Korea Says Truce No Longer Valid

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