North Korea warned it may have to release dam water into a river flowing to South Korea because of heavy rains, AP quoted Seoul's government as saying Sunday. A similar, unannounced move last year killed six people, straining ties between the neighbors. The South's Unification Ministry said it was making necessary preparations. The government sped up construction of a large, anti-flooding dam _ which has been in operation since June 30 _ in response to the construction of the North Korean dam, which discharged an estimated 40 million tons of water into the Imjin River last September, killing six people. At the time, some South Korean media speculated Pyongyang meant the move as an attack, but the North later said it had to release water because levels at its own dam were dangerously high. It promised to warn Seoul of similar surges in the future. «There won't be any problem,» said Moon Kwang-hyuk, a South Korean Land Ministry official. «We can just store the released water in our dam.» The North told the South through a military hot line that it may have to release dammed water after 8 p.m. (1100 GMT) Sunday if there was no letup in torrential rain that has pounded the peninsula in recent days, the Unification Ministry said. But several hours after the deadline, there were no signs any action had been taken, the Land Ministry said. -- SPA
