S. Korean Security Suddenly Becomes an Issue

Just five days before crucial South Korean elections, Pyongyang’s efforts to undermine the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War have suddenly made national security a major campaign issue.

Responding to harsh North Korean rhetoric attacking the armistice, plus violation of the agreement by North Korean forces in the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korean President Kim Young Sam convened a special national security meeting Saturday and called for a “heightened, iron-tight defense.”

About 120 heavily armed North Korean soldiers entered the “joint security area” Friday evening in Panmunjom, where representatives of the two sides routinely meet for talks in the middle of the 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone, or DMZ, dividing North and South Korea.

“While this is a serious violation of the armistice agreement, we do not view it with particular alarm as the Korean People’s Army has conducted this sort of illegal training activity in the past,” the U.S. military said in a statement Saturday.

A similar incident occurred Saturday evening, with about 260 armed North Korean soldiers entering Panmunjom in a convoy of nine trucks, withdrawing about three hours later.

“They did nothing while they were within the area,” a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said. “We regard it as just a demonstration.”

Under terms of the armistice, no more than 35 lightly armed soldiers from each side may enter the joint-security area at Panmunjom.

The Communist government in Pyongyang has been trying since 1994 to force Washington into direct U.S.-North Korea peace talks by undercutting the armistice agreement, which provides rules for the truce that ended the Korean War.

Pyongyang’s intent has been to establish a direct relationship with Washington, bypassing Seoul.

In an apparent escalation of these efforts, North Korea issued a cryptic announcement Thursday that it “shall give up its duty, under the armistice agreement, concerning the maintenance and control of the military demarcation line and DMZ.”

Pyongyang has not explained what this means, but Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported Saturday that a senior North Korean official said the announcement was aimed at replacing the armistice with a peace treaty.

The reaction of many South Koreans to the heated rhetoric of the two sides--especially among those who are younger or more liberal--was captured by a political cartoon that ran Saturday in the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper:

As a television set shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Il tearing up a sign that says “DMZ,” South Korean legislators of President Kim’s ruling New Korea Party chortle with glee. One says to another, “Hey, hey, control yourself. Let’s not be too overjoyed!’ In the background, opposition leaders Kim Dae Jung and Kim Jong Pil, whose political futures ride on Thursday’s National Assembly election, sit with glum faces.

The legislative vote is a key test of strength among parties headed by President Kim and by the opposition leaders.

Among older or more conservative voters, a sense of heightened military crisis could galvanize additional support for ruling party candidates. The New Korea Party lost no time in seeking such votes.

At a rally Saturday, Park Chang Jong, a top ruling party official, used the national security issue to call for a halt to demands that President Kim reveal details of how he funded his successful 1992 presidential campaign. Kim is widely suspected of exceeding legal spending limits.

“In this time of national crisis, opposition leaders are only worsening the public’s uneasiness by saying they would seek a National Assembly hearing on how President Kim funded his 1992 campaign,” Park declared.

Jim Coles, spokesman for U.S. forces in Korea, stressed in an interview Saturday that “we see no danger of imminent hostilities.”

The United States has 37,000 soldiers here to support 650,000 South Korean troops against a less-well-equipped North Korean army of 1.1 million.

“The North Koreans are continuing to do what they have done in virtually the same way they’ve done it for the past 40 years,” Coles said. “There’s no change in their military deployment.”