Spokesman for Inspection Group of NDC of DPRK Re-clarifies Principled Stand of DPRK

Spokesman for Inspection Group of NDC of DPRK Re-clarifies Principled Stand of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 31 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the inspection group of the DPRK National Defence Commission issued the following statement on Thursday: 　 One year has passed since warship "Cheonan" sank in the waters off Paekryong Island in the West Sea of Korea. 　But the south Korean authorities and military warmongers, hell-bent on the inter-Korean stand-off and steeped in distrust in compatriots, are still linking the warship "Cheonan" sinking case with the DPRK and passing the buck for the Yonphyong Island shelling on it, escalating confrontation with it. 　 The inspection group of the NDC of the DPRK has already opened to the public the truth of the two cases twice. 　 At the outset of the occurrence of the "Cheonan" warship sinking case, the DPRK expressed regret at those who suffered the disaster from the viewpoint that they are members of the Korean nation though they were soldiers of the south Korean army who leveled guns at the DPRK. 　 Nevertheless, the south Korean authorities and military warmongers floated investigation results without any scientific ground and objective nature in a bid to deliberately lay obstacles in the way of achieving national reconciliation and unity and block the way of achieving peace and prosperity desired by all the fellow countrymen. 　 They have become evermore sinister and brazenfaced in their reckless anti-DPRK confrontation rackets with the first anniversary of the occurrence of the case as a momentum, in particular, only to touch off burning resentment of all the Koreans. 　 This situation compelled the inspection group of the NDC of the DPRK to re-clarify its principled stand internally and externally. 　The south Korean authorities and military warmongers should no longer perpetrate such reckless act as linking the "Cheonan" warship sinking case with the DPRK. 　 Explicitly speaking once again, the DPRK has nothing to do with the case. This means something irrelevant to it can never be anything in which it is allegedly involved no matter how much water may flow under the bridge. 　 Any attempt to deliberately link the DPRK with the case while shunning this stark reality would only serve as a living testimony that they are only seeking to escalate confrontation with fellow countrymen and deteriorate inter-Korean relations. 　 The south Korean side walked out of the venue of the preliminary contact for opening the north-south high-level military talks without any patience. But it falsified the fact, claiming that the north was the first to walk out of the venue. They should stop such folly at an early date and no longer link the DPRK with the above-said case. 　 The further they bedevil inter-Korean relations while spreading the "story about the north′s involvement" full of lies and fabrications, the deeper pitfall of history they will find themselves. 　The inspection group of the NDC will probe the truth about the "farce" by issuing the third and fourth statements till the above-said story has disappeared. 　They should no longer work hard to pass the buck for the Yonphyong Island shelling on the DPRK. 　Explicitly speaking, the above-said shelling incident was an unsavory case which occurred as they preempted a provocation against the DPRK. 　 Had they not preempted firing shells into the inviolable territorial waters of the DPRK, there would not have occurred the shelling on the island. 　 Various forms of firing exercises and drills targeted against the DPRK have frequently taken place in the areas of south Korea and waters around it for more than six decades since the division of the country. But the army of the DPRK has not taken any physical counteraction against them even once. 　 Any attempt to conceal the criminal preemptive shelling and shift the responsibility for it onto the other is an act of deceiving not only themselves but all the fellow countrymen and an anti-peace act little short of pulling the wool over the eyes of the whole world. 　 If they do not want to suffer the same disgrace as they did through the Yonphyong Island shelling incident, they should broad-mindedly halt such shameless act as shifting their blame onto the other and have a proper attitude to settle the issue. 　 Their oft-repeated talk about someone′s responsibility for the Yonphyong Island shelling would only harden the DPRK′s determination to protect the fair and aboveboard extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea. 　 3. The present south Korean authorities and military warmongers should stop the reckless anti-DPRK hysteria under the pretence of the two cases. 　They are resorting to anti-DPRK confrontation rackets and reckless psychological warfare, anxiously waiting for "contingency" of someone to occur, and staging various forms of military exercises and drills, stoking a war atmosphere. But they should bear in mind that their much anticipated "contingency" is bound to take place in the south, not in the north. 　 Their anti-DPRK confrontation hysteria kicked up by them under the pretexts of the two cases is as foolish an act as shaking fist in the back lane after being hit hard in a street. 　 This is nothing but a thoughtless and traitorous action to calm down the distrust in the two cases shown by different circles of south Korea, settle the ever-growing "discord" in the south, adhere to the nonsensical "theory of principle" in dealing with the inter-Korean relations and stick to the wrong hard-line policy towards the north. 　 The inspection group of the National Defence Commission regards their anti-DPRK confrontation campaign being staged on the lapse of one year since the occurrence of the warship "Cheonan" sinking case as no more than a farce of "counting the age of a dead child". 　 The DPRK wishes more ardently than anyone else to see the tension defused on the Korean Peninsula and achieve peace through the improved relations between the north and the south and this process leading to peace and prosperity of Northeast Asia and the rest of the world. 　 Precisely for this reason the DPRK proposed on its own initiative comprehensive dialogue and negotiations and has made every possible effort of goodwill to put them into practice. 　 The reality indicates that the nation is standing at the crossroads of detente and increased tension and peace and prosperity and war. 　 It is the stand of the Korean People′s Army to have bold dialogue or fight a real war. 　 The present south Korean authorities and puppet military warmongers should properly understand that they are standing on the crossroads of dialogue and war. -0-