DPRK declares to tear up truce agreement

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-5-27  |     ONLINE EDITION

THE Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced today that it will no longer stand by the ceasefire agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War, in response to South Korea's participation to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

The DPRK's military said in a statement that it no longer considers itself bound by the armistice that ended the Korean War, a move seen as a strong protest over the South Korea's participation of the US-led program.

The DPRK took South Korea's total participation to the US program as "a declaration of war," said the DPRK delegation in Panmunjom in a statement, the official KCNA news agency said.

The statement said the DPRK would not guarantee the security of US and South Korean warships and civil ships in the west sea of the DPRK.

The PSI, launched in June 2003, is aimed at stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. South Korea will be its 95th member. The DPRK has repeatedly warned that the South's participation in the PSI would be equivalent to a declaration of war.