09-151.pdf

secretary meeting held on March 23, the South had rejected the
North’s protests against the introduction of heavy firearms into the
DMZ. 264
The North again urged a halt to the Team Spirit exercise when
the 445th MAC plenary meeting proposed by the UNC/MAC took
place on January 17, 1989. The South responded that the issue could
not be resolved in the MAC. “In an effort to set the agenda on tension
reduction” the meeting was the first ever closed to the media and
diplomatic observers, but no concrete measures were decided on such
issues as security in the DMZ and the withdrawal of weapons from the
JSA. At the 446th meeting called by the KPA/CPV held on February
13, the North also criticized the implementation of the exercise.
At the 447th meeting proposed by the KPA/CPV convened on
March 18, the North, while showing videos and photos, protested
against TS-89 which obstructed North-South dialogue, urged an
immediate halt and requested the withdrawal of nuclear weapons.
The South mentioned that military exercises are not at all referred to
in the Armistice Agreement. When the 448th meeting called by the
KPA/CPV took place on May 9, North Korea claimed that the US, in
preparation for a nuclear war in the Korean peninsula, had stored
more than 1,000 nuclear bombs, including 56 neutron bombs. The
UNC neglected Paragraph 13(d) and brought large quantities of
nuclear weapons and combat equipment into South Korea. That the
Commander of the American troops had the right to use tactical
nuclear weapons in South Korea raised the risk of a nuclear war. The
264_ Hapch’am chôngbo ponbu, ibid., 1999, pp. 403, 411, 414-15; Kukpang chôngbo
ponbu, ibid., 1993, pp. 223, 224-5, 226, 380.
Continued Tension but Renewed Dialogue during the 1980s
337