N.K. demand for U. S. troop pullout reflects sense of crisis

Referring to North Korea`s recent demand for the withdrawal of U. S. troops through its official broadcasting stations and other news media, the Seoul government interpreted this as a counter-propaganda offensive against Washington`s call for Pyongyang`s reduction of conventional weapons and its maintenance of a hard-line stance toward the North.

A related official of the Unification Ministry said Friday that the North`s call for the American troop pullout from Korea in the wake of the June inter-Korean summit last year was a sort of ``offensive`` gesture unrelated to U. S. policies toward the Korean peninsula. On the other hand, its recent demand could be viewed in terms of a ``defensive`` gesture.

With regard to U. S. secretary of state Colin Powell raising the question of the North`s reduction of its conventional weapons at a congressional hearing in January, the official said that Pyongyang had come to harbor a sense of crisis by interpreting this as the U. S. government`s intention to destroy the North by force.

Ha Tae-Won scooop@donga.com