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we start with south korea's eagerly-await ed response to north korea's proposal to end
all cross-border slandering... and to reduce military tensions.
seoul's unification ministry says pyongyang should start showing its sincerity through
actions and not just words... and that its annual military drills with washington will
take place next month as scheduled. hwang sung-hee reports.
a day after north korea made what it called an important proposal to stop cross-border
slanging matches south korea expressed its regret over pyongyang's attempts to mislead
the south korean public by distorting the facts.
unification ministry spokesperson kim eui -do said friday that it was north korea that
violated a similar inter-korean agreement in the past.
north korea called for an end to cross-border slandering in its new year's speech two weeks
ago but it still throws insults and threat ens south korea. the north must remember that
trust between the two koreas will be built through action and not through words.
in its proposal thursday the north's national defence commission suggested the two koreas
stop throwing insults at each other as of january 30th.
the north also said it would initiate steps to ease military tensions if seoul called
off its annual joint military exercises with washington that take place in early spring
. this offer was also flatly turned down by
the south.
our military drills are annual defensive training exercises carried out by a sovereign state
and we officially notify neighboring countries including north korea every year as is the
international custom.
in regards to north korea's nuclear program seoul said pyongyang is threatening peace
on the korean peninsula with its nuclear ambition s and added the regime must take practical
steps towards denuclearization. as for the resumption of family reunions for
those separated since the korean war south korea says it is a humanitarian issue that
should be dealt with separately from political tensions.
it said a swift resumption of the reunion s would be a first step toward friendlier
inter-korean relations. hwang sung-hee arirang news.