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SEOUL-North Korean jet fighters have sortied close South Korea's airspace at least 10 times since conservative president Lee Myung-bak took office last month, prompting Seoul to scramble its own planes in response, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Monday.The flights add to a list of provocative gestures from the North since Lee's government warned Pyongyang that if it wants to keep receiving aid, it should improve human rights, abide by an international nuclear deal and start returning the more than 1,000 Southerners kidnapped or held since the 1950-53 Korean War.North Korea jets had approached skies near the Demilitarized Zone and the Northern Limit Line-the de facto border in the Yellow Sea-some 10 times since February 25, when the new conservative South Korean government took office, the paper said."The South Korean Defense Ministry is closely monitoring the moves, believing the North is intentionally creating tensions in the sea, skies and on the ground," it said, citing defense officials.South Korea's Defence ministry declined to comment on the report.The North stepped up tension on the peninsula last Friday by firing missiles, following that up at the weekend with a threat to launch a pre-emptive strike to "not merely plunge everything into flames, but reduce it (the South) to ashes".It has also threatened to attack South Korean naval vessels patrolling in disputed waters, suspend inter-Korean dialogue and stop taking apart its nuclear weapons plant as called for in an international deal.Lee has also offering huge investment to the hermit state on condition it mend its ways, a stand analysts say has infuriated, and unsettled, the largely isolated and impoverished North.To read more go to :
As in the days of Noah....
