US beefing up military: N Korea

‘‘We have seen armoured cars and tanks inside the DMZ, which is a violation of the armistice because only officers can carry side arms inside the DMZ,’’ he said of the agreement, which ended the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

‘‘They have increased the number of soldiers and they are carrying heavy weapons,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re increasing the movement of their Army,’’ he added of the 37,000 American troops stationed in South Korea.

A rare glimpse from the Northern side across the world’s last Cold War flashpoint provided no immediate signs of such movement by US troops on the southern side.

US officers in the South say such North Korean accusations are daily fare, but that their Communist counterparts never respond when asked for evidence. But with the crisis over the North’s nuclear ambitions alarming the world and US troops on the ‘‘highest level of alert’’, Pyongyang says it’s one million strong Army is ready to defend the country.

‘‘These measures are related to the nuclear issue and we can no longer guarantee peace and security in the area, not only this area, but the country as a whole,’’ Kim said.

‘‘We are prepared to respond to war provocation activities by the US. We can’t sit idly while they increase their numbers to attack us.’’

Kim pointed through thick fog at a building on the southern side of the zone, some 50 metres away and guarded by South Korean soldiers he dismissed as ‘‘mercenaries’’. ‘‘They have mobile missiles and automatic weapons in there,’’ he said.

In Washington on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised the possibility of shifting US forces away from the DMZ and removing some of the US troops stationed in the South, many of them in forward positions.

On the Communist Northern side, the only sign of military activity were half a dozen open trucks heading down the road crammed with male and female soldiers standing cheek by jowl.

‘‘We only allow our farmers to farm inside the DMZ whereas the other side allows military hardware,’’ Kim said as a few women worked in newly ploughed fields. US military tour guides say the situation is exactly the opposite.

Kim’s remarks matched the rhetoric of the North Korean media, which depict the US as a rapacious bully determined to rule the world.

They promise total defeat of the world’s only superpower should Washington launch an attack on a country it believes has one or two nuclear warheads and the missiles capable of delivering them to North America.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he believed a diplomatic solution was possible despite US insistence on a regional approach rather than bilateral talks repeatedly demanded by Pyongyang. (Reuters)