Pyongyang Cancels Liberation Activities With South Korea Over Annual U.S. War Games

An undated picture shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (2nd-R) visiting the Hamhung wood processing factory in Riwon county, South Hamgyong province. South Korea said Wednesday its upcoming surprise summit with North Korea will speed up international efforts to shut down the communist state's nuclear programme.(AFP/KCNA via KNS)


Pyongyang Cancels Liberation Activities With South Korea Over Annual U.S. War Games

August 5, 2007 8:08 a.m. EST

Komfie Manalo - AHN News Writer

Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - North Korea has cancelled a joint celebration with South Korea to mark the anniversary of Korean liberation from Japanese colonial rule. It did so to protest this year's joint war games between South Korea and the United States, a South Korean event organizer said.
Lee Jae-kyu, the South Korean organizer said both Koreas were scheduled to commemorate their liberation on Aug. 15 in Busan.
The cancellation comes on the heels of a statement last week from Pyongyang condemning the scheduled war exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, describing it as an "unacceptable provocation."
The North said the Ulchi Focus Lens drill scheduled from Aug. 20 - 31 was a rehearsal for an invasion.
"We cannot overlook the U.S. and South Korea's move to go ahead with the joint military drills," Lee quoted the North's organizer as saying in a fax message to its South Korean counterpart.
This is the third time that the North refused to participate in the joint celebration of Liberation Day since 2001.
But North Korea has usually issued such protests of the annual war games, which South Korea and the U.S. say are merely defensive.

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