【英语国际】朝韩紧张局势升级 韩国汇市股市大跌

Growing tensions on the Korean peninsula pummelled South Korea’s currency and stock market on Tuesday, with investors taking fright at a report that Kim Jong-il, the North Korean dictator, had put his million-man army at battle stations.

Seoul has accused Mr Kim of ordering a submarine to sink a South Korean warship with a torpedo on March 26, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denies the charge.

South Korea’s won extended losses to a 10-month low against the dollar, touching Won1,272 per dollar in mid-morning trade, down 4.7 per cent from Monday’s close.

The Kospi index of leading shares slid more than 3 per cent to 1,551 by noon on continued selling by foreign investors, who have sold $4.7bn worth of South Korean shares so far this month.

Fear of military confrontation between the two Koreas mounted after South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency on Tuesday said the army in the North had been put on alert, according to North Korean defectors. The agency also cited an official saying South Korea could consider officially classing North Korea as the “main enemy”.

Traders said markets remained jittery as South Korea was getting more confrontational with the North, resuming “psychological warfare” such as shouting propaganda across the border with megaphones for the first time in six years and cutting trade with its communist neighbour.

On Monday, Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, said his government would take the warship issue to the United Nations Security Council and would exercise the right to defend itself against further aggression from the north.

The US and South Korea are also stepping up joint naval exercises to intimidate the North and are seeking to impose further sanctions on the impoverished nation.

North Korea has denied any responsibility for the torpedo attack and threatened "all-out war" if punitive measures were imposed against it.

朝鲜半岛上日益紧张的局势导致韩国汇率及股市周二双双大跌。此前一则有关朝鲜独裁者金正日正在调遣其百万大军的消息让投资者们深感担忧。

韩国此前指责金正日在3月26日下令一艘潜水艇以鱼雷击沉一艘韩国战舰，导致46人死亡。但朝鲜否认了这一指控。

韩元兑美元汇率在早盘交易中比周一收盘时下跌4.7%，至1美元兑1272韩元，是10个月来的最低点。

外国投资者纷纷撤离，导致韩国股市Kopsi指数下跌2.75%。外国投资者本月至今已经卖出了价值47亿美元的韩国股票。

韩国官方的联合通讯社(Yonhap)周二报道，据从朝鲜叛逃到韩国的人士称，朝鲜官方已经命令军队进入警戒状态，这加剧了投资者对朝韩两国间可能出现军事对抗的担忧。这家通讯社还援引一位韩国官员称，韩国可能会考虑正式将朝鲜划定为“主要敌人”。

交易员们表示，韩国与朝鲜之间的日益对抗局面让市场上人心惶惶。朝韩两国恢复了一些“心理战术”做法，比如六年来首次重新在边境两边用高音喇叭互喊宣传口号。韩国还切断了和朝鲜的贸易往来。

韩国总统李明博周一表示，会将军舰被击沉一事提交联合国安理会，并且会行使自卫权遏制朝鲜进一步侵犯。

美国和韩国还将加强两国间的海上联合军事演习以威吓朝鲜，同时还在寻求对朝鲜实施更加严厉的制裁措施。

朝鲜方面否认对鱼雷袭击事件负有任何责任，并警告说，如果对其采取惩罚措施，它可能会发起“全面战争”。