Seoul, July 20: North Korea threatened today to pull out of an armistice accord that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, accusing the United States of seeking to ignite a second war on the Korean peninsula. The threat came as the two cold war foes prepared for ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire to end the three-year war.
The North's ruling workers party newspaper said Pyongang would take a "strong step" to pull out the agreement if Washington built up its forces on the peninsula and imposed a blockade on the Stalinist state. The United States had misused the armistice "for serving their despicable purpose" and worked hard to "bedevil" inter-Korean relations, it charged.
"The reality goes to clearly prove who is chiefly to blame for the tensions and the danger of war on the Korean peninsula and who truly wants peace and stability or who is their wicked disturber," said the newspaper. It said the armistic accord was "fated to be abrogated when any party pulls out of it."

"If the US persists in its moves to start a war against the North Korea, it can no longer remain bound to the defunct aa to leave the peace of the country and the destiny of the nation to the tender mercy of outside forces and stay idle."

The armistice was signed between the US-led United Nations command, China and North Korea, three years after the war broke out on June 25, 1950. Bureau Report