The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday accused US troops of "abnormal acts", which were ignored by the South Korean military authorities, in areas under the control of the north and the south.
"Recently the US troops committed such abnormal acts as suddenly coming as close as 100 meters from the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the areas under the control of the north and the south in the eastern and western coastal regions, which had been agreed upon and fixed by the north and the south, without prior notice, watching vehicles moving between the north and the south, photographing areas of the north side and gesticulating at DPRK guard personnel on duty by hand and body language," a spokesman for the north side delegation to the North-South Military Talks said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The spokesman added that the US troops committed a total of 130cases of such provocative acts in October and November with more than 180 GIs involved.
"What matters here is that such acts are tacitly connived at by the South Korean military authorities which are obliged to demand the observation of the security and order in the areas as required by the agreements reached between both sides," he said.
The spokesman said the north side had sent a notice of protest to the South Korean military authorities and repeatedly demanded them to put under control such abnormal phenomena in the areas.
"But each time they openly defended the US's acts, asserting that those bustling about in the areas under the control of the north and the south are 'UN forces, not the US forces'," he said.
The stand and attitude of the South Korean military are intolerable in view of the basic spirit of the agreements on providing a military guarantee adopted by the militaries of the north and the south on Sept. 17, 2002 and Dec. 23, 2003, the spokesman stressed.
The agreements prescribed that "any party should issue a prior notice to the other party if it wants to enter any place 100 meters from the MDL in the areas under the control of the north and the south".
"To properly maintain the security and order in the areas under the control of the north and the south or not is an important issue related to the north-south cooperation and exchange," the spokesman said, adding that "the US troops' acts, named as the 'Un forces' are aiming to destroy the cooperation and exchange between the DPRK and South Korea."
The spokesman finally demanded the south side to take a decisive measure to thoroughly implement the military agreements reached between the both sides.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)
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