Koreans calmly face off at DMZ

PANMUNJOM, DMZ — Spitting across the demarcation line that separates the two armies. Making throat-slashing hand gestures. Flashing their middle fingers. Trying to talk to the South Korean troops.

North Korean troops in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas have been more boldly trying to provoke guards on the other side since the North claimed to have detonated a nuclear bomb Monday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

"They're walking a little taller," Army Major Jose DeVarona of Fayetteville, N.C., said during a tour of the zone Wednesday. "They're more confident about making contact." Still, he said the overall situation was calm.

North and South Korean soldiers face each other in the village of Panmunjom, a cluster of blue huts inside the 2.5-mile-wide, 156-mile-long buffer strip. About 200 U.S. troops also are stationed along the DMZ.

The DMZ is one of the world's most potentially dangerous flashpoints, but Panmunjom is also a tourist trap where buses disgorge thousands of visitors each year who come to gawk at the North Korean soldiers. The village is jointly overseen by the U.S.-led U.N. Command and North Korea, an arrangement established in 1953 to supervise the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korean troops were not seen engaging in provocative antics during the reporters' tour.

Developments

North Korea: North Korea warned Wednesday that it considers the Bush administration's demand for sanctions against it "a declaration of war." Kim Yong Nam, the North's No. 2 official, told Japan's Kyodo news agency that the North's response might include a new nuclear-bomb test.

U.S.: President Bush ruled out one-on-one talks and said he has no plan to attack the North, but the administration said it would present a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council today that would threaten a U.N. blockade or other direct military action.

Japan: Japan backed the tough U.S. stance and imposed its own sanctions on the North, but China made clear that it is not ready to let the U.S. push its U.N. plan.

Explosion: It remained unclear exactly what kind of explosion North Korea set off Monday. No government has announced detection of the radioactive signature that would confirm a nuclear, rather than a conventional, blast.

Newsday

Seven North Korean soldiers, wearing olive-green uniforms and tall, round-brimmed hats, guarded U.N. buildings where meetings between the two sides are sometimes held.

South Korean soldiers in black helmets and sunglasses stood in their traditional pose: legs wide apart in a martial-arts stance with arms at their sides, fists tightly clenched and ready to strike.

At one point, two North Korean officers marched to the line and faced a large group of TV cameramen and photographers. They stood for about 10 minutes, staring blankly at the cameras, before marching away.

About 20 minutes later, the officers returned with the soldiers, who marched behind them, swinging their arms high across their body in unison. They had a brief meeting with their U.S. and U.N. counterparts at the demarcation line.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chris Dignan said the meeting was about repatriating the body of a North Korean soldier who washed up in the South's territorial waters last month. Officials did not give the cause of his death, but DeVarona said bodies routinely are found after flooding in the North.

Before the tour, U.S. soldiers — among the 29,500 stationed throughout South Korea — gave standard orders not to make gestures, point at or try to talk to the North Koreans.

U.S. Army Capt. Craig Cunningham, who serves at an observation post where tourists can peer into North Korea, said U.S. troops weren't worried about the recent tensions blowing up into a war.

He said the situation along the border was relatively calm, considering the two sides fought a devastating war and share the world's most heavily armed border.

The DMZ has been the site of numerous infiltrations and violent confrontations over the decades, but such incidents have diminished in recent years, Cunningham said. He noted that the two Koreas have been holding a series of meetings and have set up a joint economic zone run by both sides.

"Looking back in history this has been as friendly as you can get," said Cunningham, of El Paso, Texas. "Looking at the overall perspective, this is the calmest it has ever been."

Swedish Maj. Gen. Theolin Sture, who was on a two-year tour for the United Nations, said he's visited the North Korean side of the border and it seemed more relaxed.

"They behave as if they're victorious: 'We won the war and this is what it looks like,' " Sture said.