From The New York Times:
North Korea Warns South but Accepts Food Aid
Lim Byung-Shick/Yonhap, via Associated Press
South Korean trucks loaded with sacks of flour for North Koreans left for the North Korean city of Kaesong on Friday.
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: January 27, 2012
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned on Friday that a South Korean military drill around front-line islands could lead to a “full-scale war” as South Korean trucks crossed the border carrying privatefood aid for North Korean children.
The 180 tons of flour from the Korea Peace Foundation, based here in Seoul, was the first such aid shipment since the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, died on Dec. 17, leaving his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as leader.
As the North Korean government has focused on consolidating the succession, it has sharpened its criticism of President Lee Myung-bak’s government in Seoul, vowing never to deal with it.
The government in Pyongyang maintained its strident rhetoric against Seoul on Friday, criticizing a live-fire exercise the South Korean military conducted a day earlier around several South Korean islands close to the North’s southwest coast.
South Korea increased its defenses and military exercises in the area after a North Korean artillery attack against one of the islands in November 2010 that killed four South Koreans.
“The gunfire in the area can trigger a military clash between the two sides. It then can escalate into a full-scale war,” said a commentary carried by uriminzokkiri.com, a North Korean government Web site based in Pyongyang.
North Korea has issued similar warnings against South Korean military exercises, calling them drills for invasion.
Analysts and research organizations in South Korea have expressed fears that Kim Jong-un might try to use military provocations against the South to bolster his credentials as a strong leader. But other analysts believe that Mr. Kim would not risk such gambles until he was sure of his grip on power.
President Lee and his military have repeatedly vowed that they would respond resolutely to a new North Korean provocation.
North Korea has said it was forced into the 2010 artillery attack in response to a South Korean military drill in front-line waters. The waters around the South Korean border islands are claimed by both Koreas, and their navies have clashed there in recent years.
South Korea is watching whether North Korea under Mr. Kim will ratchet up tensions there. The United States and South Korea are scheduled to conduct a major annual joint military exercise from Feb. 27 through March 9.
The South Korean government has said it will not provide large-scale food aid unless the North makes significant progress in ending its nuclear weapons program. But it has allowed civic groups to send small aid shipments for North Korean children, including flour, medicine and soy milk.
On Friday, the South’s Unification Ministry said that South Korean aid to the North fell to 19.6 billion won, or $17.5 million, last year, down more than 51 percent from a year earlier.
Inter-Korean trade fell by more than 10 percent to about $1.5 million in 2011, the ministry said.
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