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S.Korea, DPRK wage verbal battle over landmine blast

Xinhua, September 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have waged a war of words less than 10 days after the two sides reached an agreement to defuse tensions over landmine blasts and the broadcasting of propaganda messages.

Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told a press briefing Friday that it was regrettable for the DPRK to denounce what President Park Geun-hye said during her visit to China and threaten the failure to carry out what was agreed upon during the high-level inter-Korean dialogue.

His comments came a day after the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) condemned Park for her " impertinent" remarks.

During her visit to China to attend the military parade in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of victory of Chinese people' s resistance against Japanese aggression and world anti-Fascist war, Park said that tensions can escalate on the Korean Peninsula at any time as seen in the recent provocation of landmine blast.

In early August, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by the explosion of landmines, which Seoul claimed had been secretly planted by DPRK forces. Pyongyang denied any role in the incident.

In retaliation for it, South Korea resumed broadcasting propaganda messages into the DRPK with loudspeakers in front-line units, causing strong backlash from Pyongyang.

The two Koreas exchanged artillery fires, bringing the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict. The two sides put troops on the highest alert, but tensions de-escalated after marathon talks between top military officials of both sides.

The Aug. 25 agreement, reached at the high-level dialogue, promised to ease tensions and resume talks between governments. Working-level Red Cross contacts would be held next Monday to hold the reunion event for Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Endi