China Perspective

China takes 'prudent' line on Korea tension

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-28 08:01

Visitors to an observation post in Paju, Republic of Korea, look across the border through binoculars on Thursday, May 27, 2010. [Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press]

BEIJING - China's position on the sinking of an Republic of Korea (ROK) ship remains unchanged, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

"The issue is highly complicated. China does not have firsthand information. We are looking at the information from all sides in a prudent manner," Ma Zhaoxu said.

Mounting tensions continued on the Korean Peninsula as Premier Wen Jiabao starts a six-day Asia tour in the ROK on Friday. He will also attend the third Trilateral Summit Meeting with ROK and Japanese leaders.

On Thursday, the ROK held anti-submarine drills in waters bordering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The DPRK announced it would scrap an inter-Korean agreement on preventing accidental naval clashes between the two, one of seven measures announced by Pyongyang in response to ROK sanctions.

The measures also include banning ROK ships, planes and other vehicles from passing through the territorial waters, airspace and land, and "the people of the South Korean authorities" from entering the DPRK.

Seoul's Yonhap News Agency cited unidentified sources that ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Korea-United States Combined Forces Command have raised the five-tier alert system by a notch to level two Thursday.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula flared after the Cheonan, a 1,200-ton warship with 104 crew members on board, sank on March 26 after an explosion, killing 46 sailors.

The ROK released the results of a multinational investigation on May 20, accusing the DPRK of torpedoing the ship. But the DPRK denied the charges and insists on sending its own inspectors to verify the evidence.

Also on Thursday, the DPRK accused the ROK of blocking the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, its official KCNA news agency reported.

In a statement to mark the 10th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, which was signed by the DPRK and ROK in 2000 aiming to achieve early peaceful reunification, the DPRK said the ROK had banned its people from attending a planned meeting to mark the anniversary in Pyongyang as well as all related contact between the two sides.

ROK authorities are suppressing patriotic forces of the reunification movement by holding elections for "local self-governing bodies" and by fabricating the case of the sinking of the warship, said the statement.

Those seeking war and confrontation were "fated to meet a miserable end," it added.

Despite heated retaliation between the two, ROK shares on Thursday were back on the rise.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 25.38 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,607.5, according to bourse operator Korea Exchange.

The strong gain came as risks of inter-Korean tensions were relieved, mainly due to analysts' expectations that the impact from the DPRK risk will be limited.

Earlier this week, the ROK halted trade with the DPRK and banned its merchant ships from entering ROK waters, but exempted the jointly run Kaesong industrial estate just north of the border, where some 110 ROK firms employ about 42,000 DPRK workers producing mostly labor-intensive goods, and humanitarian aid for DPRK's children.

But Seoul's unification ministry said later that eight ROK officials in Kaesong were scheduled to return to the ROK as DPRK authorities ordered them to leave a joint consultative office located within the factory park.

Russia dispatched a group of experts to the ROK on Wednesday to examine the results of the investigation of the sinking vessel, Moscow-based RIA Novosti reported.

RIA Novosti said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev "believes it is crucial to establish the true cause of the loss of the vessel and to establish beyond all doubt who bears personal responsibility for what happened."

Medvedev also said "it is crucial that all involved parties show restraint and moderation in the interest of not allowing tensions to escalate further, and of preserving peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the entire region," according to RIA Novosti.