South Korea govt introduces ban on citizens' travel to North Korea.

24/5 Tass 91

TOKYO, May 24 (Itar-Tass) - The South Korean government has introduced
a ban on the travel of its citizens to North Korea, except the minimal
number of business trips to the joint industrial complex Kaesong and to
the resort zone on Mount Kumgangsan. This decision has been made within
the framework of sanctions introduced in connection with the sinking of
the Cheonan corvette, South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said
at a press conference in Seoul on Monday.
The joint resort complex on Mount Kumgangsan had earlier attracted
large number of South Koreans. However, the trips were suspended after a
North Korean guard in July 2008 shot dead a female tourist there. Last
year, Pyongyang confiscated or froze all property of South Korea in the
Kumgangsan complex.
According to the Yonhap news agency of South Korea, the country's
President Lee Myung-bak earlier announced the full stoppage of trade,
investments and other economic cooperation with North Korea that is
accused by the South of destroying this ship.
"From now on, the Republic of Korea will not tolerate any provocative
act by the North and will maintain a principle of proactive deterrence,"
the president said in a nationally televised address made at the War
Memorial of Korea in central Seoul. "If our territorial waters, airspace
or territory are militarily violated, we will immediately exercise our
right of self-defence."
The president's speech came after a team of multinational
investigators last week concluded that a North Korean submarine torpedoed
the 1,200-tonne warship, the Cheonan, on March 26 in waters just below
Koreas' western sea border, killing 46 South Korean sailors, Yonhap
reported.
Lee said Seoul will suspend all trade and exchange programs with the
North, apart from the Kaesong project, while maintaining minimum levels of
humanitarian aid for infants and children living in the impoverished
country. "Under these circumstances, any inter-Korean trade or other
cooperative activity is meaningless," the president said, adding that
North Korean ships will no longer be allowed to use South Korean waterways
as short-cuts, including the Jeju Strait. Lee urged North Korean
authorities to offer an apology for the Cheonan incident and punish those
responsible for it.
In a quick show of close alliance, US President Barack Obama said that
his administration fully supports Lee's adamant stance. "US support for
South Korea's defence is unequivocal, and the president has directed his
military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea
counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression," the
White House said in a statement.
Lee's speech was followed by a joint press conference by his defence,
unification and foreign ministers who provided more details on how Seoul
will punish Pyongyang for the attack, one of the worst on the peninsula
since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Defence Minister Kim Tae-young said his military will conduct joint
anti-submarine drills with the US in the Yellow Sea and expand
participation in international interdiction training as a member of the
Proliferation Security Initiative -- aimed at curbing the spread of
weapons of massive destruction.
The South's troops will also resume sending propaganda messages
through loudspeakers across the heavily fortified border with the North, a
campaign that was halted six years ago under a deal between the rival
armed forces, according to Yonhap.
It said the North characteristically responded with military threats
saying it would destroy the tools for "physiological warfare" with direct
sighting shots.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, Seoul's point man on Pyongyang,
said Seoul will prevent new investment in the Kaesong industrial zone,
where more than 100 South Korean manufacturing firms operate and about
1,000 South Korean workers stay, as well as ban South Koreans from
entering the North outside of Kaesong.
"If the security of our nationals (there) is threatened, we will
respond sternly," Hyun warned. Officials here said Seoul will first scale
down the operation of the Kaesong park and consider the next step in
accordance with the North's attitude.
Meanwhile, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said on the condition of
anonymity the government is preparing for a formal review of whether the
wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops should be
transferred as scheduled, Yonhap reported.
"Once the Commission for National Security Review puts forward a
related opinion, the government will closely review it," he said,
referring to a presidential task force for defence reform. South Korea's
former administration agreed to regain the OPCON in 2012. Conservatives
here have called for the government to renegotiate the timing, saying it
is premature for Seoul to control its military on its own during war.
The Defence Ministry is also considering inserting the description of
North Korea as a main enemy in its defence white paper. Seoul discontinued
describing Pyongyang as a main enemy in the biennial document in 2004,
opting instead to portray it as a "direct military threat or existing
military threat" apparently in an effort to reconcile with it.
-0-ezh