Seoul refutes Pyongyang’s call to stop leaflet spread, military exercise

By Park Sae-jin Posted : January 23, 2015, 16:56 Updated : January 23, 2015, 16:56
South Korea Thursday refuted the North Korean demands that the South stop anti-North Korean leaflet spread and joint military exercises with the United States.

"North Korea should not repeat claims inconducive to the south-north dialogue and rapidly come to the dialogue table for actual progress in inter-Korean relations," South Korea's Ministry of Unification said in a brief statement after the North’s National Defense Commission issued a statement condemning the South.

The statement urged Seoul to clarify its position on South Korean civic groups floating anti-North Korean leaflets across the border and the annual joint military drills with the United States.

The commission slammed South Korean President Park Geun-hye for her comments on unification with the North, which it said showed skepticism about the South’s will to improve inter-Korean relations.

North Korea also demanded the stop of the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, but Seoul has said those are annually-held drills of "defensive nature."

"As long as the (South) Korea-U.S. alliance structure exists, military exercises should persist," Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a press briefing, saying that the alliance and the military forces cannot be maintained without drills.

By Ruchi Singh
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