Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Seoul and US warns North Korea to drop its “inhumane” airline threat

South Korea and the United States lashed out Friday warning North Korea to drop its "inhumane" and "belligerent" threats against commercial flights travelling through the region.

North Korea has said that “security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side and its vicinity" while joint military exercises between the United States and Korea are underway, beginning Monday.

The threat has caused Korean Air and Asiana to re-route some 200 flights over the next two weeks, adding up to an hour in journey times.
Airlines from other nations using the route over North Korean-controlled airspace have remained unaffected.

"The government urges North Korea immediately to withdraw military threats against civilian air flights," Seoul's unification ministry said in a statement.

"Threatening civilian airliners' normal operations under international aviation regulations is not only against international rules but is an act against humanity," the South Korean government's main spokesman on inter-Korean relations, Kim Ho Nyeon said.

North Korea is also preparing to test-fire a rocket that it says will carry a communications satellite into space.

Seoul and Washington say the real purpose is to test a missile that could theoretically reach Alaska.

Kim Ho Nyeon, said about 33 daily international flights pass over North's air space from the east, with about 15 of them by South Korean airliners.
Analysts say North Korea may be trying to test the resolve of the Obama administration and to strengthen its hand in future nuclear disarmament negotiations.

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