P`yang rails against ROK-U.S. war game

The North Korean foreign ministry said Monday that the joint ROK-U.S. Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration (RSOI) exercise slated to begin Apr. 20 would overturn the Pyongyang-Washington agreement and also that Seoul`s participation in it violates the joint inter-Korean statement of Jun. 15. This was the first time that North Korea had addressed its vilification of South Korea to all the South Korean authorities, instead as before to a few military leaders and some conservative elements here.

If South Korea supported the war plot of the United States against North Korea and took part in the war game, it would be a naked breach of the inter-Korean joint statement, according to North Korea`s state media, the Central Broadcasting Station and Radio Pyongyang. North Korea claimed that the planned military exercise was ``equivalent to a real war and is aimed at totally overthrowing the accord between (North) Korea and the United States and openly pursuing a policy of antagonism to overwhelm us by force.``

Ha Tae-Won scoop@donga.com