North Korea will withdraw from the nonaggression pact with South Korea if Seoul continues to accuse Pyongyang of sinking one of its warships, the country's news agency said citing a statement from a government committee.
Forty-six sailors died when the 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sank on the night of March 26 near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea after a sudden explosion. A team of international investigators confirmed on Thursday suspicions that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.
"North Korea will react harshly and mercilessly, including by the freezing of inter-Korean relations, complete annulment of the nonaggression pact and comprehensive winding up of work on inter-Korean cooperation," the agency said citing a statement from the Ministry of Peaceful Unification.
The two countries remain technically at war as their 1950-1953 conflict ended only in an armistice. Naval clashes between the South and the North over the disputed sea border took place in 1999, 2002 and last year.
The conclusions of the investigation led to a further deterioration of the already sour relations between the two Koreas and have jeopardized international efforts to stop Pyongyang's controversial nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.
Talks on North Korea's nuclear program, involving Russia, Japan, China, the United States and the two Koreas, stalled last April when Pyongyang pulled out of the negotiations in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of its missile tests.
North Korea, which is subject to international sanctions over its nuclear program, has warned Seoul of a stern response if the South retaliated with new sanctions against Pyongyang over the alleged attack on its warship.
MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti)
