South Korea's ruling party leader on Wednesday accused the U.S. ambassador in Seoul of pressuring South Korea to take stronger action on North Korea, warning this could undermine the Seoul-Washington alliance.
Amb. Alexander Vershbow has recently stepped up demands that South Korea fully enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea in response to the latter's nuclear bomb test on Oct. 9 that was conducted in brazen disregard of international opposition.
"This is an act that damages our national pride and is not appropriate for the South Korea-U.S. alliance," Kim Geun-tae, leader of South Korea's ruling Uri Party, told a party meeting.
"Neighboring countries of the Korean Peninsula should not take any additional measures that might aggravate the situation," he said. "Recently, there has been concern that the U.S. ambassador's remarks crossed a certain limit."
In a seminar last week, Vershbow said South Korea should take "appropriate steps" over calls for it to expand its role in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, a naval interdiction drive apparently targeting North Korea.
He also demanded that South Korea review its cross-border reconciliation projects with North Korea, which were suspected of funneling cash to the North's ruling elite and helping to finance its weapons program.
Vershbow has made several similar calls in recent media interviews.
South Korea said it would implement the U.N. sanctions on the North, but has been reluctant to take overly harsh measures to avoid further destabilizing the situation.
The nuclear tension took a new turn this week, as the communist North agreed to return to stalled international disarmament talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The six-party talks have been deadlocked since November, as North Korea boycotted them after the U.S. launched financial restriction on a Macau bank in which the country holds accounts.
Seoul, Nov. 1 (Yonhap News)
Ruling party head criticizes U.S. amb. over N. Korea sanctions |
