http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7859671.stm North Korea maintains one of the world's biggest standing armies Communist North Korea has said it is scrapping all military and political agreements signed with the South, accusing Seoul of hostile intent. The South's government had pushed relations "to the brink of a war", the North's cross-border relations body said on state media. One agreement scrapped is that covering the maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The two countries' navies fought bloody skirmishes in the area of the de facto border in 2002 and 1999. "All the agreed points concerning the issue of putting an end to the political and military confrontation between the North and the South will be nullified," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said. It said that the situation on the Korean peninsula had reached a point where there was "neither way to improve [relations] nor hope to bring them on track". The North has stepped up rhetorical attacks on the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has promised to stop the free flow of aid to the North unless it moves to end its nuclear weapons programme. The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says some analysts believe that Pyongyang is trying to build up tensions with the South in order to give itself more negotiating power with the new US administration. A more pessimistic analysis suggests that the rising tension does raise the possibility of small-scale military clashes, says our correspondent. The two states are still technically at war since their conflict more than half a century ago. The naval clashes of and 2002 and 1999 left six South Koreans and, reportedly, dozens of North Koreans dead. --

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