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S. Korea blasts N. Korea's warning on flights+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SEOUL, March 6_(Kyodo) _ South Korea on Friday blasted North Korea's warning on South Korean flights flying over the North's airspace and the Sea of Japan, calling the move an "inhumane act." The North's "military warning on civilian flights flying in accordance with international flight regulations is an inhumane act and should never be tolerated under any circumstances," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho Nyong said, reading a statement at a press briefing. Kim said South Korea urges North Korea to immediately retract the warning. North Korea warned Thursday it can no longer assure the safety of South Korean passenger flights flying over its airspace and the Sea of Japan, protesting a joint military exercise by South Korea and the United States scheduled to last from Monday next week to March 20. "Under the situation...no one knows what military conflicts will be touched off," according to a statement from the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, monitored by Yonhap News Agency. North Korea is "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side...and its vicinity above the East Sea of Korea, in particular, while the military exercises are under way," the statement said. The Sea of Japan is referred to as the East Sea in both Koreas. South Korean airlines Korean Air and Asiana Airlines said Friday they have rerouted flights to stay well clear of North Korean airspace after the North's warning, according to airline officials. The North's warning came amid reports that North Korea is prepared to launch a longer range ballistic missile, following missile launches in 1998 and 2006. Pyongyang has said it is merely preparing to put a communications satellite into orbit. Inter-Korean relations have chilled since conservative President Lee Myung Bak took office in February last year. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |