【英语国际】朝鲜宣布将与韩国断绝往来

North Korea said Tuesday it will cut off all ties to South Korea, going well beyond the penalties that Seoul imposed on it a day earlier for its apparent role in the sinking of a South Korean warship two months ago.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

North Korea's state news agency announced the move late Tuesday, well after the usual hours when it makes statements from the country's authoritarian government.

The decision sharply escalates the tensions between the two countries in the aftermath of the March 26 sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship.

North Korea said it would expel all South Koreans from a joint industrial complex just inside the North where about 120 South Korean companies employ about 40,000 North Koreans.

The statement also said Pyongyang will 'totally abrogate the agreement on nonaggression between the north and the south and completely halt the inter-Korean cooperation.' The two Koreas have forged several nonaggression pacts since the 1970s and the North's statement wasn't specific which agreement it meant.

North Korea also said it would ban South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace, though that step means little since South Korean planes avoid the country and only ships involved in commerce with the North travel there.

The statement came several hours after North Korean accused South Korea of sending warships into its territorial waters, a claim the South immediately denied.

North Korea's state media said 'dozens' of South Korea warships crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea over the past 10 days. The area, near where the South Korean patrol boat Cheonan sank on March 26, has long been disputed by North Korea.

The statement showed that Pyongyang is intensely focused on the Yellow Sea boundary as part of its broader effort to secure money and security for its authoritarian government. As part of that effort, North Korea for two years has been trying to get South Korea to reverse its stance of linking aid to the North with nuclear disarmament.

The maritime boundary is an area where North Korea can irritate the South Korean military and government without risk of involving many people and a wide conflict.

And it's a place where Pyongyang feels economically constrained. On portions of its west coast, North Korean fishing vessels can only go out about five miles before reaching the inter-Korean border, limiting their ability to fish.

In the announcement, North Korea warned of further, unspecified military action in the Yellow Sea. It didn't refer to the Cheonan sinking in the announcement.

Through the years, North Korean military vessels have accompanied fishing boats around the sea border. Last year, North Korea built a rocket base on land that's capable of firing artillery into the border waters. It test-fired several hundred rounds of artillery from the new base in January.

Earlier Tuesday, a defector group in Seoul said that North Korean officials told the country's citizens last week to prepare for confrontation with the South.

The order was given on a closed-circuit cable radio system that is maintained by the government and is difficult for outsiders to monitor, said Hyun In-hye of the defector group North Korea Intellectual Solidarity. He said the group is in regular phone contact with people in North Korea.

The North's authoritarian government has long told North Koreans that the country is at risk of invasion from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. But last week's message said the South may use the Cheonan incident as a pretense for war, Hyun said.

朝鲜方面周二说，它将切断与韩国的一切往来，此举远远超过韩国前一天针对朝鲜的报复措施的力度。朝鲜被指在两个月前击沉一艘韩国军舰。

朝鲜官方通讯社周二晚间公布了这一举措，比平时发布朝鲜威权政府声明的时间晚了很久。

朝鲜的这一决定令朝韩两国自3月26日韩国军舰天安号(Cheonan)沉没事件以来的紧张关系急剧升温。

Associated Press周二在首尔，一名活动人士在一场反对朝鲜的集会上撕扯朝鲜国旗朝鲜方面说，它将驱逐位于朝韩边境朝鲜一侧的联合工业园区内的所有韩国人。园区有约120家韩国企业，雇有约40,000朝鲜人。

声明还说，平壤方面将完全废除朝韩互不侵犯协议，并完全停止双边合作。自20世纪70年代以来，朝鲜和韩国之间签订了多份互不侵犯条约，朝鲜的声明没有具体说要废除哪一份条约。

朝鲜方面还说，它将禁止韩国船只和飞机在朝鲜领海和领空航行。不过由于韩国飞机都不飞朝鲜，也只有参与对朝商贸的船只前往朝鲜，所以此举不会给韩国带来多大影响。

发布声明数小时前，朝鲜指责韩国派谴军舰进入了朝鲜水域，韩国立即予以否认。

朝鲜官方媒体说，过去10日，有数十艘韩国军舰跨越了黄海上的南北军事分界线。分界线所处地区离韩国巡逻舰天安号沉没地不远，朝鲜对这个地区长期存有争议。

该声明显示，平壤密切关注黄海上的分界线，这是为其独裁政府获取资金及保障的更大范围努力的一部分。同样出于这种目的，两年来朝鲜一直在尽力使韩国放弃将对韩援助与朝鲜去核化相联系的立场。

在朝韩海上分界线区域，朝鲜可激怒韩国军队与政府，而不至于涉及许多人、引发大范围冲突。

同时，这里也是平壤感到经济上受遏制之处。朝鲜西海岸的部分地段距离朝韩海上分界线仅五英里左右，限制了朝鲜渔船的捕鱼范围。

在该声明中，朝鲜警告称将在黄海区域有进一步的军事行动，但未具体指明会采取何种行动。声明中没有提及天安号沉没事件。

多年来，朝鲜军舰一直护卫着朝鲜渔船在海上分界线附近捕鱼。去年，朝鲜在陆上建了个火箭发射基地，炮弹射程可及分界线海域。今年1月，朝鲜从新基地试射了数百发炮弹。

周二早些时候，首尔一个逃亡者组织说，上周朝鲜官员向朝鲜公民下令做好与韩国对抗的准备。

朝鲜逃亡者组织North Korea Intellectual Solidarity 的Hyun In-hye说，该命令是通过政府所有的一个闭路电台下达的，难以为外界所监听。他说该组织与朝鲜境内人士保持着定期的电话联系。

朝鲜政府一直对朝鲜人民说，国家面临韩国、美国及日本侵犯的威胁。但Hyun In-hye说，上周的指令称，韩国可能会以“天安”号事件为借口挑起战争。