South Korea says North Korea must immediately withdraw an implicitthreat it made this week to civilian airliners. Major airlines haveadjusted their routes.
South Korean Unification Ministryspokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said Friday, North Korea must immediately moveto ease worries it has caused about regional air travel.
He urges the North to immediately withdraw the military threat against the South's airliners.
NorthKorea warned it "could not guarantee the safety" of South Koreancivilian flights that pass through or near its airspace. Pyongyangblamed recent North-South tensions which it says are heightened by theimpending start of annual U.S.-South Korean joint military drillsscheduled for next week. The U.S. deploys about 28,000 troopshere to deter a repeat of the North's 1950 invasion.
Spokeman Kim says this is the first time North Korea has directed such threatening remarks at South Korean civilian flights.
Hesays threatening civilian airliners' normal operations violates bothinternational aviation regulations and humanitarian principles.
SouthKorea's two main airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, have rerouted flightsout of North Korean airspace as a precaution. Cho Young-Chul is aspokesman for Korean Air.
He says the changed routes mainlyaffect flights coming from the United States and other westerncountries. He says the change was mandated by the government out ofconcern for safety.
In keeping with past aviation agreements,about 14 South Korean flights pass through airspace along North Korea'seast coast every day. About 19 flights from other countries use asimilar route daily. Airline officials say rerouting will add about 30minutes to most flight times, and cost more in fuel.
The NorthKorean warning comes amid expectations of an imminent rocket launch bythe North. Pyongyang said last week it intended to launch a"satellite" in the interest of space research. However, U.S., Japanese,and South Korean officials believe the North's real intention is totest a long-range missile.
Yang Moo-jin is a scholar at theUniversity of North Korean Studies in Seoul. He says it is unlikelythe North's warning is an indication it has imminent plans to launchthe missile.
He says North Korea was careful to mention onlySouth Korean civilian aircraft in its warning. If Pyongyang had warnedall international flights to clear its airspace, says Yang, it wouldhave been a much stronger indication it was planning an imminent launch.
Officersfrom the United Nations Command, which monitors the tense North-SouthKorean land border, met with their North Korean counterparts Friday inthe border village of Panmunjeom. They say they told the North theairliner threat was "entirely inappropriate." They also offeredreassurance that next week's U.S. - South Korean military drills areroutine, and purely defensive in nature.