North warns against S. Korean loudspeakers

SEOUL, May 24 (UPI) -- North Korea warned South Korea Monday against setting up propaganda loudspeakers along their border, vowing to destroy them.

The warning came the same day South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, responding to the March 26 sinking of a South Korean navy ship, suspended trade with North Korea and barred North Korean ships from operating in South Korean waters.

International experts last week said the ship was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine but the North has vehemently denied any role. The ship incident, along with the North Korean nuclear program, raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea announced it will resume its anti-North Korean broadcasts, using megaphones along the demilitarized zone, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. The program was discontinued in 2004.

Yonhap quoted the official North Korean news agency KCNA as saying if loudspeakers were to be set up, "there will start the firing of direct sighting shots to destroy them."

"If the group of traitors (South Korea) challenges the just reaction of (North Korea), this will be followed by stronger physical strike to eliminate the root cause of the provocations," a North Korean official said.

Besides the measures announced by Lee against the North, Yonhap reported Seoul is planning large-scale joint anti-submarine drills with the United States in the Yellow Sea where the ship went down.

In other developments, Yonhap, quoting sources, reported Wu Dawei, China's chief nuclear envoy, arrived Monday in Seoul. The report said Seoul wants China's support for its efforts to punish North Korea at the U.N. Security Council. China is North Korea's chief ally and a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power.