NK says summit statement will be declaration of war

North Korea said Wednesday it would consider any statement against it during next week’s Seoul Nuclear Security Summit a declaration of war, as tensions mounted ahead of the gathering that will bring together leaders from 58 nations and international organizations.

“In the event of a provocation such as a statement regarding the North Korean nuclear issue at the Seoul conference, it will be heinous blasphemy against the North,” the mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch. “Any provocation against us will be considered a declaration of war.”

The agenda for the event to be held Monday and Tuesday at the COEX convention center focuses on safeguarding atomic material around the world, and preventing nuclear terrorism. Discussions on the North are expected to take place on the sidelines among concerned parties.

The remark added to soaring tensions Pyongyang caused last week when it announced it would launch a satellite from a long-range rocket blasting off from its west coast next month to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung.

Seoul considers the launch as cover for a ballistic missile test using the same technology that could be used to develop a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Pyongyang insists it intends to launch the satellite for scientific purposes.

The North often threatens to attack the South, with which it is still technically at war, and has in recent months significantly stepped up its criticism of President Lee Myung-bak. It waged two deadly attacks in 2010.

Earlier this week, Lee said the summit would help curry international support to resolve the nuclear issue.

Officials also kept up Seoul’s tough stance on the launch, with Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik saying the act would be responded to “sternly” and in concert with the international community.

Yu, however, added the door remained open for talks despite Pyongyang’s repeated vow not to deal with the Lee administration.

Washington says the move would break a bilateral deal after the North agreed last month to nuclear concessions including an IAEA-monitored shutdown of its uranium enrichment activities at Yongbyon in exchange for nutritional assistance. It would also breach U.N. Security Council sanctions.

The deal had paved the way back to multilateral denuclearization negotiations Pyongyang left in 2009.

Lee is slated to hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama during the summit as a part of meetings with 26 world leaders. The two are expected to discuss the North’s nuclear program among other issues.

Analysts have said Seoul was strategically chosen to host the second installment of the nuclear summit, an initiative of Obama, in order to send a message of international unity to the isolated North regarding the nuclear issue.

Despite the Pyongyang’s repeated claims to an inherent right to the peaceful use of space, any testing of multi-stage rockets has been banned under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which was put in place after the country’s second nuclear test in 2009. <Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>

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