100,000 in Pyongyang protest against U.S., S.Korea over warship sinking
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Some 100,000 people gathered in Pyongyang on Sunday to condemn the United States and South Korea for their behavior against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over the recent South Korean warship sinking.
At the rally held on the Kim Il Sung Square, Choe Yong Rim, chief secretary of the Pyongyang City Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said the inter-Korean relations have been driven into a situation, in which a war may break out anytime.
On May 20, South Korea released an investigation report and accused the DPRK of torpedoing its Cheonan corvette in March. A total of South Korean 46 sailors out of the 104-member crew were killed in the incident.
"This is a conspiratorial plot intended to tide over the serious ruling crisis caused by the total failure of the (Lee Myung-bak) group's domestic and foreign policies," Choe said
Other speakers at the rally also expressed the determination to react with a rapid retaliatory strike if South Korea shows the slightest sign of "punishment" and "retaliation" together with foreign forces.
According to the KCNA, the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea Sunday released a bulletin to denounce South Korea for persistently linking the warship sinking with the DPRK.
"It is the iron will and spirit of the DPRK army and people to react to punishment with merciless punishment and to retaliation with a dreadful annihilating strike. If South Korea persists in reckless provocation, the DPRK will give more dreadful punishment to it," it warned.
Also on Sunday, at a tripartite summit held in South Korea, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama exchanged views on the Cheonan warship incident.
The three leaders offered condolences over the death of the sailors in the corvette sinking. The Chinese and Japanese leaders said they attached importance to the joint investigation by South Korea and some other countries into the incident, and have taken note of the responses from the concerned parties.
