Chronology of Major North Korean Statements on The Korean War Armistice

A very good piece from the South Korean Yonhap News Agency:

July 27, 1953 -- The three-year war ends in an armistice, signed between military commanders from North Korea and China on one side and the U.S.-led United Nations Command on the other. South Korea was not a signatory.

The ceasefire was meant to be only a temporary measure before a final peaceful settlement was achieved, though it was never replaced by a formal peace treaty.

May 23, 1994 -- North Korea's Foreign Ministry says the country will no longer be bound by the armistice agreement should the United States go ahead with a multinational naval exercise called the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill, which South Korea ultimately participated in. The drill was held from late May to mid-July.

May 24 -- North Korea establishes the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army, its military mission to the joint security area in the demilitarized zone, after pulling out of the Military Armistice Command, a U.N. organization responsible for supervising the armistice, weeks earlier. The withdrawal came in retaliation against the U.N. Command's appointment in 1991 of a South Korean general as chief of the Military Armistice Command. The North protested, saying South Korea is not a signatory to the armistice.

April 4, 1996 -- The North's Panmunjom Mission says the country is abandoning its obligations to the armistice, such as maintaining and supervising the military demarcation line and the demilitarized zone, protesting imports of tanks, artillery and heavy weapons into South Korea.

Feb. 18, 2003 -- The Panmunjom Mission says the North will not abide by the armistice and that it will take stern measures should South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills.

July 1, 2003 -- The Panmunjom Mission criticizes the U.S. plan to spend $11 billion to strengthen weapons for its forces stationed in South Korea and says it will consider the move as a full annulment of the armistice.

Aug. 22, 2006 -- Ahead of an annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise known as Ulji Focus Lens, the Panmunjom Mission issues a statement saying the drill is tantamount to an act of war and the country will no longer abide by the armistice.

May 27, 2009 -- The mission denounces South Korea's participation in a U.S.-led security campaign, the Proliferation Security Initiative, as a violation of the armistice and says its military will be no longer bound by the armistice. With the armistice rendered ineffective, it said the Korean Peninsula was now back in a state of war.

North Korea reacts to South Korea's decision to fully participate in PSI: declares Korean War Armistice "null"

The following was carried as an unscheduled program, and is observed to be North Korea's first reaction to South Korea's decision to participate in PSI:

(Originally broadcasted by North Korea's Korean Central Broadcasting Station in Korean)

Statement P'anmunjo'm Mission of the Korean People's Army: 

Those Who Toy With Us Will Not Be Able To Avoid Merciless Punishment Beyond Imagination The unstable situation of our country -- which is neither at war nor in peace -- is dashing toward an extreme situation where war may break out at any time.

Such a situation is directly connected with the frenzied maneuver of the US imperialists -- who are frantically running amok with military isolation and crushing maneuvers against us, the other party of war, while totally turning a blind eye to the Armistice Agreement -- and the Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors, which are riding on them.

Its typical movement is none other than the Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors' reckless full participation maneuver in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, which was forced by the conspiracy and collusion of the master and its stooge.

Originally, the US attempt to drag in the puppets into this initiative, aimed at military blockade and sheer brigandish naval blockade against us, has been persistently pushed since the Bush administration.

While speaking paradoxically saying that there is the need to convert PSI as a permanent international system, even the incumbent US rulers, including Obama, instigated and draw South Korean puppets to this.

This is a violent infringement and a clear negation of not only the international law but also the Korean Armistice Agreement, which prohibits any kind of blockade against war counterpart.

In spite of that, Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors, who has become inveterate of flunkeyism and subservience, unhesitatingly committed the act of fully participating in PSI, blindly obeying the demands of their masters.

With this, the US imperialists and Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors drew the situation on the Korean peninsula to a state of war.

The P'anmunjo'm Mission of the Korean People's Army clarifies principled position of our revolutionary armed forces to cope with the situation created.

1. As has been already declared to the world, our revolutionary armed forces will regard the Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors' full participation in the PSI as a declaration of war against us.

Accordingly, we will brand hostile acts, such as interdictions and inspections, against our vessels having peaceful purposes - no matter how trivial they may be - as unpardonable violation of our Republic's sovereignty and will respond with immediate and strong military strikes.

2. The incumbent rulers of the United States are so crazed with the maneuver to crush the DPRK that they negated the Armistice Agreement itself, not to mention international law. Without being satisfied with this, the authorities recklessly abandoned even their responsibility as the very signer of the agreement and finally dragged the puppets into the PSI. In this situation, our army will not be bound by the Armistice Agreement any longer, either.

If the Armistice Agreement loses its binding force, the Korean peninsula will surely get back to the state of war in legal terms, and our revolutionary armed forces will proceed to military action corresponding to it.

3. At present, the KPA will not be able to guarantee the legal status of the South side's five islands -- Paengnyo'ng, Taech'o'ng, Soch'o'ng, Yo'np'yo'ng, and U Islands -- in the northwest territorial waters of our maritime Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea of Korea and the safe navigation of the vessels of the US imperialist forces of aggression and puppet Navy as well as general ships that move in the nearby waters.

Under a condition where the US imperialists and Lee Myung-bak gang of traitors have given up the just [kongjo'nghan] demands of international law and mutual agreement, it does not make sense if it's only us who implement them the demands and agreement.

There is no greater miscalculation than thinking that the US-style theory that the weak are the prey of the strong can work with us.

The South and the United States should correctly be aware that we also have mighty military strength and our-style striking method that can, if necessary, can enable DPRK to sit astride nearby objects at one stroke or strike the vital spot of the United States.

Those who toy with us will not be able to avoid merciless punishment beyond imagination.