"South Korea remains hopeful on talks with North" by Associated Press | January 31, 2009
SEOUL - .... Signs the North is gearing up for armed provocation, possibly a naval skirmish over the Koreas' disputed Yellow Sea boundary, where the two navies clashed in 1999 and 2002....
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"North Korea warns of war with South
SEOUL - North Korea warned yesterday that South Korea's confrontational policies could trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its neighbor.
Relations between the two Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office nearly a year ago in Seoul, pledging to take a harder line on the North. Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.
The tension could lead to "an unavoidable military conflict and a war," North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried yesterday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
"The policy of confrontation" by the South Korean government is "the very source of military conflicts and war" between the Koreas, it said. The North has accused Lee's government of preparing to stage a war, which South Korea denies.
A FALSE-FLAG on the way?
In its Friday statement, the North said it would no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South on the west of the peninsula, raising the prospect for a new armed clash in the area - the scene of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
President Lee sought to downplay the statement and called it "not unusual." He indicated his government will wait until the North is ready for talks in good faith.
I never trust an ally of the U.S. anymore; they lie too much.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official said yesterday that the country's navy remains on alert along the western sea border.
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