North Korea to reopen hotline with South

North Korea says it will restore a key hotline with South Korea, as the two Koreas discuss where to hold talks on a jointly-run industrial zone.

Pyongyang said it would reopen a Red Cross hotline which it cut in March.

Operations at Kaesong came to a halt after the North withdrew its workers and restricted access

It also invited officials to come to Kaesong for talks on Sunday on restarting operations at the factory zone, after the two sides agreed in principle to talks on Thursday.
Work at Kaesong has been halted since April, amid high regional tensions.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated earlier this year in the wake of the North's 12 February nuclear test.
North Korea's nuclear ambitions are expected to be on the table when the US and Chinese presidents meet in California later today for an informal summit.
'Mistrust' The Kaesong factory complex is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation. Around 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there by more than 120 South Korean factories.
The zone is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade.

However, Pyongyang withdrew its workers in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.

It had already cut a military hotline with South Korea, and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the two Koreas, in addition to the Red Cross hotline.
On Thursday, however, it offered talks with the South on the resumption of operations and said it would reconnect the Red Cross hotline if Seoul - which had been seeking such talks - agreed.
Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said the Red Cross link would be restored from 14:00 local time (0500 GMT), AFP news agency said.
The two sides are still working out details of the talks on the industrial zone. The South suggested ministerial-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday, but North Korea has asked for lower-level talks on Sunday in Kaesong, which is located just inside North Korea.
In a statement, Pyongyang said that working-level talks were needed first, "in the light of the prevailing situation in which the bilateral relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity".

Kaesong Industrial Zone

• Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
• More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
• Complex as a whole produced $470m worth of goods in 2012 - the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
• South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in wages to North Korean workers

 Source BBC

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Posted in: Korea,Politics

Iran, North Korea to Dominate Nuclear Non-Proliferation Talks

U.S. Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation
Thomas Countryman talks to the media in this file photo,
at the government building in Skopje, Macedonia, February 2011.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Controversial nuclear programs being pursued by Iran and North Korea are expected to dominate the agenda of global nuclear talks that have begun at the United Nations in Geneva. Over the next two weeks, representatives of 190 nations that are members of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] will meet to prepare for the 2015 NPT Review Conference.

These preparatory talks are taking place in a charged atmosphere. The NPT aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. But the rogue actions of Iran and North Korea are setting many member states on edge.

The head of the U.S. delegation says the increasingly bellicose rhetoric of North Korea and Iran's continued defiance of its obligations under the NPT are major challenges.

Thomas Countryman, who is U.S. Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation, said North Korea has exploded a third nuclear device, and Iran has long deceived the International Atomic Energy Agency and international community regarding its nuclear enrichment program.

“The actions of Iran and North Korea should concern every member of this conference. It is clear that if Iran succeeds in the project of constructing nuclear weapons then it is not only the Helsinki meeting that becomes irrelevant, but it is in fact the entire credibility of this treaty. The possession of such weapons by Iran constitutes a threat to the entire region,” said Countryman.

A proposed international conference to establish a nuclear free zone was supposed to take place in Helsinki last December, but failed to materialize. Iran said it would attend such a conference. But Israel, which neither denies nor confirms that it possesses nuclear weapons, indicated it would not attend.

Israel has not joined the NPT. Iran, which is a member, said it is not in breach of the treaty. It says it is enriching uranium as part of a peaceful nuclear energy program, which is allowed under the treaty.  It says it is not interested in acquiring nuclear weapons.

The United States, Israel, the European Union and other allies are suspicious of this claim, however, and fear Teheran is intent on building an atomic bomb.

Countryman warns that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, this will open the way for more proliferation of such weapons than has ever been seen.

"If you consider that Iran’s rhetoric prior to its first nuclear explosion is just as warlike as North Korea’s rhetoric after three nuclear explosions, you ought to be concerned about where continued non-adherence by Iran will bring the region and bring the world,” he said.

North Korea became a party to the NPT in 1985 and announced it was withdrawing from the treaty in 2003. Countryman said North Korea began acquiring nuclear weapons technologies while still a member of the treaty. The case of North Korea, he said, clearly shows the treaty can be abused by states that say they have withdrawn.
Countryman said there must be consequences for such action. He said he expects this issue to be discussed during the 2015 Review Conference and hopes this will be one of the areas where the treaty can be strengthened.
Theo VOA

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Posted in: IRAN,Korea,nuclear

North Korea marks birthday of Kim Il-sung

North Korea has marked the 101st anniversary of the birth of founding father Kim Il-sung as tensions continue over the country's nuclear programme.

Kim il-sung's birthday is traditionally
marked by national celebrations

Leader Kim Jong-un visited the mausoleum of his grandfather and his father Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, the official KCNA news agency reports.

Despite the apparent celebrations, South Korea remains on high alert.

In recent weeks the North has threatened to attack South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.

The US has ruled out holding any more "artificial talks" with the North.

"We cannot continue this charade and we cannot have a policy of rhetoric about denuclearisation. There have to be real steps here," Secretary of State John Kerry told the BBC after talks with leaders in Japan following a tour of East Asia.

Mr Kerry said the North's main diplomatic ally, China, had made a very strong statement criticising Pyongyang for its recent behaviour. He said he hoped Beijing was now recognising the regional instability created by the actions of Kim Jong-un.

A heightened state of vigilance has been in place for the past five days in South Korea and the defence ministry has said it believes the test firing of an intermediate range missile could still be imminent,

After Pyongang dismissed an offer of dialogue from South Korea on Sunday as a "crafty trick", Seoul announced on Monday that it would provide aid and co-operation to the North, if it made the "right choice", Yonhap news agency reported.

Red-letter day

Early on Monday Mr Kim was at the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay "high tribute and humblest reverence" to the country's former leaders, KCNA reports.

The streets of Pyongyang were adorned with flags and banners for the holiday, a red-letter day for one of the world's most powerful cults of personality, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul.

It was a reminder perhaps of what really lies behind the recent bellicose threats - a need to ensure the regime's survival, our correspondent adds.

Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula after North Korea conducted its third underground nuclear test on 12 February that resulted in sanctions from the UN.

There has been speculation that the North will use Kim Il-sung's birthday for a missile launch.

At this time last year, it launched a rocket with the stated aim of putting a satellite into orbit to mark the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth. The rocket broke up shortly after take-off.

The UN Security Council condemned the launch, which many outside the country saw as an illegal test of long-range missile technology.

Kim Il-sung died in 1994, and was succeeded by Kim Jong-un's father Kim Jong-il, until his death in 2011.

Fiery rhetoric

Speculation has been building that the North is preparing a missile launch, following reports that it has moved at least two Musudan ballistic missiles to its east coast.

South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee on Monday that Pyongyang still appeared poised to fire off a missile, adding that Seoul was fully prepared for an attack.

Japan is also within range of Musudan rockets and has been taking precautions, including setting up batteries of US-made Patriot anti-missile systems around the capital and sending two warships to the Sea of Japan, with orders to shoot down any missiles fired towards the Japanese islands.

Speaking in Tokyo at the end of a four-day trip to the region on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on North Korea's leaders to take "meaningful steps" towards "denuclearisation".

He had earlier urged them to "come to the table in a responsible way" to end regional tensions, warning Pyongyang risked further isolation if its threats continued.

He also reaffirmed the US commitment to defend its allies, including Japan.

Washington and Tokyo have a security alliance dating back to the 1950s, under which Washington is bound to protect Japan if it is attacked.

North Korea habitually issues fiery statements denouncing the US and South Korea, but the rhetoric has grown increasingly aggressive since the UN imposed a fresh round of sanctions in March.

Pyongyang has also been angered by joint military manoeuvres by the US and South Korea, which it says are preparations for war.

It has responded by vowing to restart an inactive nuclear reactor, shut an emergency military hotline to the South and by urging countries to withdraw their diplomatic staff, saying it cannot now guarantee their safety.

Some estimates suggest that the Musudan missiles which North Korea has moved to its east coast could travel 4,000km (2,500 miles).

That would put US bases on the Pacific island of Guam within range, although the exact threat is unclear as it is not believed that the Musudan has been tested before.

Mr Kerry has stressed that it would be a "huge mistake" for the North to go ahead with a launch, saying it would further isolate North Korea and that the people of the country are in need of food, not missiles.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics

Đại học Kinh tế và Chính trị London LSE yêu cầu BBC không phát phóng sự điều tra về Bắc Hàn do phóng viên giả danh sinh viên LSE thực hiện.

Trường này nói phóng viên BBC John Sweeney đã đóng giả là sinh viên đang làm luận văn tiến sỹ và tham gia chuyến đi do hội sinh viên LSE tổ chức để quay phim bí mật.

Chương trình Panorama về Bắc Hàn sẽ được phát vào tối ngày 15/4.

LSE nói các sinh viên đã "không được cung cấp đủ thông tin để đồng ý có chủ đích" và đã bị kéo vào tình cảnh "nguy hiểm".

Phóng viên John Sweeny trong khi đó nói các sinh viên đã được thông báo rằng một nhà báo sẽ đi cùng họ nhưng trường LSE không được thông báo vì đó không phải là chuyến đi do trường tổ chức.

'Nhà nước Phát xít'

Trả lời phỏng vấn đài BBC Radio 4, ông Sweeney nói: "Thật là lạ lùng khi LSE tự nói thay cho các sinh viên LSE. Đó là điều hoàn toàn sai trái khi họ muốn hủy chương trình này.

"Chúng tôi không đồng tình với những gì LSE tuyên bố. Tôi không thể nói thay các sinh viên đó được - họ là người lớn, những người tốt và dũng cảm.

"Tất cả những sinh viên đó có thể nộp tôi, nhưng họ đã không làm vậy.

"Đa số sinh viên đã ủng hộ chương trình."

John Sweeney đã có tám ngày quay lén ở Bắc Hàn. Ông đi cùng vợ và người quay phim.

Sweeney nói Bắc Hàn là "nhà nước Phát xít" và có "hình thức kiểm duyệt ngặt nghèo nhất".

Ông nói thêm: "Nó giống với nước Đức của Hitler hơn bất kỳ nhà nước nào khác trên thế giới.

"Đó là nơi đáng sợ, âm u và ác độc."

Tuy nhiên, trong một email gửi cho giảng viên và sinh viên, LSE nói: "Quan điểm của LSE là các sinh viên không được cung cấp đủ thông tin để đồng ý có chủ đích, nhưng lại được cho đủ thông tin để khiến họ gặp nguy hiểm nghiêm trọng nếu vỏ bọc bị phát hiện trước khi họ rời Bắc Hàn.

"Mặc dù chuyến đi này do hội sinh viên tổ chức, các khía cạnh về Bắc Hàn là đối tượng nghiên cứu của một số bộ môn do tính chất của việc giảng dạy và nghiên cứu của LSE.

"Hành động của BBC có thể làm phương hại nghiêm trọng uy tín học thuật thuần túy của LSE và có thể gây bất lợi nghiêm trọng cho các chuyến đi trong tương lai của sinh viên và giảng viên LSE nhằm nghiên cứu Bắc Hàn và cũng có thể là cả các nước khác khi có nghi ngờ về nghiên cứu học thuật độc lập."

Trường nói họ "hoàn toàn ủng hộ nguyên tắc về các điều tra báo chí nhằm phục vụ công chúng" nhưng không thể chấp nhận việc sử dụng tên hay học sinh của trường "làm vỏ bọc cho những hoạt động như vậy".

LSE cũng nói hai người làm việc cho BBC cũng đi cùng chuyến đi. "Trong suốt thời gian trước chuyến đi, người ta không nói rõ cho sinh viên biết một nhóm ba người của BBC có kế hoạch dùng chuyến đi làm vỏ bọc cho phim tài liệu lớn sẽ chiếu trên chương trình Panorama," LSE nói.

'Bắt giữ'

LSE nói Tổng giám đốc BBC Tony Hall đã từ chối đề nghị hủy chương trình và "đưa ra lời xin lỗi đối với LSE vì nhân viên BBC đã sử dụng trường và uy tín của trường để lừa dối."

Tờ báo của công đoàn sinh viên LSE, tờ Beaver, dẫn lời Alex Peters-Day, Tổng thư ký Công đoàn Sinh viên LSE nói "BBC không thể đưa ra quyết định thay cho sinh viên tham gia chuyến đi và BBC cũng không được gây nguy hiểm cho toàn bộ cộng đồng thuộc trường."

Một sinh viên giấu tên của trường, người tham gia chuyến đi nói với Beaver rằng "chúng tôi không được biết sự hiện diện của vài phóng viên BBC vào lúc bay đi Bình Nhưỡng.

"Chúng tôi nghĩ John Sweeney là giáo sư sử học cho dù sau đó người ta có ý nói rằng ông ấy không phải là giáo sư ở LSE."

Bản thân Hiệu trưởng LSE, Craig Calhoun, nói trên Twitter rằng "chương trình của BBC đã khiến sinh viên LSE gặp nguy hiểm nhưng không có vẻ tìm ra được thông tin gì mới và chỉ chiếu những gì Bắc Hàn muốn khách du lịch thấy."

Một phát ngôn viên của BBC nói: "Chúng tôi công nhận rằng vì chuyến đi có thể tăng tính rủi ro nên các sinh viên phải được biết trước rằng một nhà báo có ý định sẽ đi cùng với họ để các sinh viên có thể đưa ra quyết định về chuyện họ có muốn tiếp tục [tham gia chuyến đi hay không].

"Họ đã được cũng cấp thông tin và được nhắc nhở về chuyện đó từ trước để có thể thay đổi kế hoạch nếu họ muốn.

"Các sinh viên đều được cảnh báo về rủi ro có thể có khi đi cùng nhà báo tới Bắc Hàn trong đó có cảnh báo về nguy cơ bị bắt giữ và rằng họ có thể không được quay lại Bắc Hàn trong tương lai."

Theo BBC

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Posted in: Asia,Business,Korea

BBC 'used LSE students as human shield' in North Korea

The BBC has refused to drop a Panorama programme on North Korea after a students' union said it used students "as a human shield" to film there.

Three BBC journalists accompanied 10 London School of Economics students and spent eight days in the country.

The LSE students' union's Alex Peters-Day said Monday's programme should be dropped because students were lied to and could not give informed consent.

But the BBC said the students had been properly warned ahead of the trip.

Head of news programmes Ceri Thomas said the North Korean government was the only party the BBC had deceived.

"We have a duty to give enough information to people on a trip like this so they can give us fully informed consent," he said.

"There were 10 students. We told them there would be a journalist on the trip and, if that journalist was discovered, it could mean detention and that it could mean arrest."

Nine of the students were aged 21-28 while one was 18, he said.

'Student welfare'

The LSE complains the students had not been told there was an undercover team of three, filming a high-profile documentary.

Panorama reporter John Sweeney spent eight days undercover inside North Korea for the programme, travelling with his wife and a cameraman.

Mr Thomas admitted they had initially been told it was one journalist but that, when they were in Beijing before they flew into Pyongyang, they were told there would be three journalists.

He said North Korea was "one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet which is threatening nuclear war in the Korean peninsula".

The "public interest arguments" for making and showing the programme were "overwhelming", he added.

He said three of the students had since asked "that their images be taken out" and that they would be "pixellated or blobbed".

LSE students' union general secretary, Ms Peters-Day - who was not on the trip - told the BBC News Channel: "One of the students made it absolutely clear that she was not made aware of what happened.

"For us, this is a matter of student welfare - students were lied to, they weren't able to give their consent."

She said all LSE's future research was "now at risk".

"I think the trip was organised by the BBC as potentially a ruse for them to get into North Korea and that's disgraceful.

"They've used students essentially as a human shield in this situation."

LSE pro-director Prof George Gaskell said students had been put in a "potentially extremely dangerous" situation.

The university had been told last week that the BBC had used the party as cover for Panorama filming during the eight-day trip, he added.

He said he was glad LSE staff had not been left "wondering about how we were going to get these students out of solitary confinement in some North Korean jail".

"I think there is less danger to students than there is to my colleagues," he added.

"Some of my colleagues at the present are in Africa, China and various other sensitive countries.

"If their independence and integrity is challenged, they may find themselves in considerable risk."

'Extreme censorship'

Meanwhile Universities UK, the umbrella body for UK universities, said it regretted "the BBC's approach in this matter".

"Universities must be able to work with integrity and operate in sensitive areas of the world," chief executive Nicola Dandridge said.

She added: "The way that this BBC investigation was conducted might not only have put students' safety at risk, but may also have damaged our universities' reputations overseas."

Panorama reporter John Sweeney said the majority of the students he had travelled with supported the programme.

"What the LSE is saying we dispute," he told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme.

He added: "All of those students could have dobbed me in, they didn't."

He described North Korea as a "Nazi state" that practised the "most extreme form of censorship".

He added: "It's more like Hitler's Germany than any other state in this world right now. It's extraordinarily scary, dark and evil."

Source: BBC

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics,war

Pentagon: NKorea Can Likely Launch Nuclear Missile

A Pentagon spy agency concluded for the first time that North Korea likely has the ability to launch nuclear-armed missiles, illustrating the high stakes surrounding the escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

But a Defense Department spokesman later on Thursday cast doubt on whether Pyongyang is fully capable of firing nuclear missiles, as a study dated last month by the Pentagon’s own Defense Intelligence Agency suggested.

The secret assessment — which was mistakenly marked as unclassified and partially revealed at a congressional hearing — said the agency had “moderate confidence” that North Korea is able to launch nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. But it said the weapons would probably be unreliable.

The evaluation was made public by Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn as he questioned senior Pentagon officials about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program during a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

“[The Defense Intelligence Agency] assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. However, the reliability will be low,” Lamborn said, quoting from a DIA report titled “Dynamic Threat Assessment 8099: North Korea Nuclear Weapons Program (March 2013).”

Effectively confirming the assessment, a government official said Lamborn had done nothing wrong in releasing the statement, but declined further comment on the study. He said the quotation cited by Lamborn was in a section of the study that had been erroneously marked unclassified.

Lamborn did not say what range the nuclear-capable North Korean missiles might have.

Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said one analyst recently claimed a nuclear warhead capability for North Korea’s Nodong short- to medium-range missile would be able to hit U.S.-based facilities in the region, including South Korea and probably Japan.

U.S. government officials tried to downplay the DIA evaluation.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said, “It would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage.”

A U.S. official said the DIA study was a lower-level assessment that had not been approved by the full intelligence community.

Unable to Reach U.S.

The consensus inside the U.S. government is that North Korea does not yet have a nuclear device that would fit longer-range missiles which conceivably could reach U.S. territories.

“It’s very clear that it cannot, at this stage, include long-range ballistic missiles because they’re just basically not developed sufficiently yet to be able to do this,” Kristensen said.

All the same, the release of part of the DIA report will likely raise tensions on the Korean peninsula where North Korea has stationed as many as five medium-range missiles on its east coast, according to assessments by Washington and Seoul, possibly in readiness for a test-launch that would demonstrate its ability to hit U.S. bases on Guam.

Most observers say Pyongyang has no intention of starting a war that would likely bring its own destruction, but they warn of the risks of miscalculation.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is a Pentagon spy agency that gathers information about the capacity and strategic intentions of foreign military forces.

Greg Thielmann, a former State Department intelligence analyst now with the Arms Control Association advocacy group, said that while he did not have access to the classified material cited in Congress, what was said publicly about the DIA’s assessment sounded quite tentative.

“It really says to me that this is a speculative statement," Thielmann said. “Moderate [confidence] is higher than low confidence but it doesn’t say they know very much.”

He described the DIA statement as a “cautious worst-case assessment.”

© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com

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Posted in: Korea,Politics,USA,violence

Pentagon: Inaccurate to Say N. Korea Has Nuclear-Armed Missiles

North Korean missile launch (2012)

The Pentagon late Thursday said North Korea does not have nuclear-armed missiles, playing down an intelligence report leaked earlier in the day which said Pyongyang had the capability to build atomic warheads that could be fitted on missiles.

Pentagon spokesman George Little says it would be inaccurate to suggest the North has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the nuclear capability mentioned in the report.

Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn surprised Pentagon officials during a routine budget hearing Thursday by reading what he says was an unclassified paragraph from a U.S. military intelligence report. Lamborn said intelligence officials are moderately confident the North has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.

U.S. officials have been saying that they know little about North Korea's intentions and have to assume the worst.

U.S. President Barack Obama says it is time for North Korea to end its "belligerent approach."

The president said during White House talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday that no one wants to see a war on the Korean peninsula.  But Mr. Obama said the United States will take all necessary measures to protect itself and its allies.

U.S. and South Korean forces are on heightened alert for a possible North Korean missile test. South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday it is fully prepared to deal with a North Korean launch.

Source: VOANEWS.COM

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Posted in: Korea,nuclear,Politics,USA,war

North Korea: US urges China to rein in Pyongyang

The US says it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea's "destabilising" actions.

North Korea says its armed forces are a war footing

US officials travelling with Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington wanted Beijing to evoke "a sense of urgency" in its talks with Pyongyang.

North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in the region, threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has denied a report suggesting Pyongyang is able to mount nuclear warheads on missiles.

Earlier, a US Congressman leaked details of a Defense Intelligence Agency study that, he said, assessed "with moderate confidence" the North could fire a nuclear-armed missile, though with "low reliability".

Pentagon spokesman George Little said later: "It would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage."

Although the North has carried out nuclear tests, it had been thought it lacked the ability to make the weapons small enough to place in a ballistic missile.

South Korea is currently on a high state of alert amid indications that the North is preparing for a missile test.

Pyongyang has moved two Musudan ballistic missiles to its east coast. Estimates of their range vary, but some suggest the missiles could travel 4,000km (2,500 miles).

That would put US bases on Guam within range, although it is not known whether the Musudan has been tested before.

Mr Kerry is travelling to Seoul on his first trip to Asia since becoming secretary of state.

A senior administration official told reporters on board his plane: "It is no secret that China has most leverage, most influence, with North Korea and I think fundamentally we would want them to use some of that leverage because otherwise it is very destabilising and it threatens the whole region."

The official added that, although Washington was not privy to conversations between China and North Korea, "we would want China to bring a sense of urgency, the need to stop this escalation, into that debate".

"China has a huge stake in stability and the continued North Korean pursuit of a nuclear armed missile capability is the enemy of stability. That gives us and the Chinese a very powerful objective in common, namely denuclearisation," the official said.

North Korea has increased its warlike rhetoric following fresh UN sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February and joint military manoeuvres by the US and South Korea.

The North says it will restart a mothballed nuclear reactor, has shut an emergency military hotline to the South and has urged countries to withdraw diplomatic staff, saying it cannot now guarantee their safety.

However, in the past few days North Korea's media appear to be in more of a holiday mood, due to the approach of Monday's celebrations marking the birth of national founder Kim Il-sung - a potential launch date for a new missile test.

Source: bbc

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics,violence,war

South Korea raises alert with North to 'vital threat'

The BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from the Korean border

South Korea has raised its alert level to "vital threat" amid indications the North is preparing for a missile test.

At least one ballistic missile with an estimated 3,000km (2,000-mile) range is fuelled and ready for launch, US and South Korean sources say.

Pyongyang has been making bellicose threats against South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.

The threats follow tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea last month after its third nuclear test.

Separately, an initial investigation by the South into a major cyber attack last month that affected a number of banks and broadcasters has said the North is to blame.

'Anytime now'

North Korea is believed to have completed preparations for a missile launch after it moved two Musudan missiles to its east coast, Yonhap news agency says.

In anticipation, the South Korea-US Combined Forces have raised their alert level to Watchcon 2, to increase surveillance monitoring, Yonhap quoted a senior military official as saying.

North Korea unveiled the Musudan missile during a military parade in 2010 but has yet to test it. There are reports, however, that it may have been sold to Iran and tested there.

The launch could happen "anytime from now", South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told parliament.

A test launch would be a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1718, passed in 2006, which states the North "must not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile".

North Korea has tested intermediate range missiles before and during periods of crisis and tension, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul.

So while another test launch would certainly be seen as provocative, it is unlikely to have any major, short-term military significance unless it goes wrong, our correspondent adds.

He says one key date for a launch could be Monday - the birthday of the North Korean state's late founder, Kim Il-sung.

Yonhap also reported that the South's National Police Agency had raised its state of alert by one level from "attention" to "caution".

It said that patrols had been increased at 770 sites, including at embassies and key underground stations.

Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said his nation was on "high alert", with anti-missile defences deployed in Tokyo as a precaution.

A number of travel agencies in China have reported that tourist trips into North Korea have been suspended.

One travel agent in the north-eastern city of Dandong told Reuters news agency: "All [tourist] travel to North Korea has been stopped from today and I've no idea when it will restart."

The border remains open to commercial traffic.

Meanwhile, an official investigation by the South into last month's cyber attack traced the malicious codes used to six computers in the North.

"We've collected a lot of evidence to determine the North's Reconnaissance General Bureau led the attack, which had been prepared for at least eight months," a spokesman for the Korea Internet and Security Agency said.

The attack on 20 March severely affected the KBS, MBC and YTN broadcasters and operations at the Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju banks.

'Uncontrollable'

The North has warned foreigners in South Korea to take precautions in case of war.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula may become "uncontrollable".

He once again urged North Korea to tone down its "provocative rhetoric" and to keep open a joint North-South Korean industrial complex.

North Koreans failed to report for work at the Kaesong complex on Tuesday, suspending one of the few points of co-operation with South Korea.

Since the UN sanctions were imposed, Pyongyang has threatened to use nuclear weapons and has said it will restart a nuclear reactor.

The North has also shut an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Last week, it warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff after 10 April, and that countries should begin evacuating their diplomatic staff.

Source BBC

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South Korea Largely Ignores Latest North Korean Threat

South Koreans arrive with their belongings from North Korea's Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, April 9, 2013.

North Korea has urged foreigners to leave South Korea to avoid a possible military conflict, but Pyongyang's latest warning apparently has done little to disrupt life in Seoul.

North Korean state television broadcast a message Tuesday, telling tourists and enterprises to evacuate Seoul and South Korea "for their own safety," because of the risk of what it called a "nuclear war."

But businesses in Seoul were operating normally after the threat, and there was no sign of unusual traffic leaving the city.

Familiar threats

North Korea issued a similar warning last week to foreign embassies in its capital, Pyongyang, urging diplomats to leave by Wednesday. None of the embassies has reported evacuating personnel.

White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed North Korea's latest threat as "more unhelpful rhetoric" that further isolates the impoverished country.

"The North Korean leadership would be wiser to focus on developing its economy and assisting the North Korean people who suffer under this kind of leadership that chooses development of missile programs and nuclear weapons rather than the feeding of its own people," Carney said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deeper concern, telling reporters on a visit to Rome that tension on the Korean peninsula has risen to a "very dangerous level."

"If any small incident is caused by miscalculation or misjudgment, it may create an uncontrollable situation," Mr. Ban said. "That is why I have been urging the DRPK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) authorities to refrain from this provocative rhetoric, and I have been urging the countries concerned in and around the Korean peninsula to exercise their influences with North Korea."

Response plans

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said that if North Korea carries out a military provocation, U.S. troops and their South Korean allies are ready to respond. Testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday, Admiral Samuel Locklear said Washington and Seoul have developed a response plan based on a better understanding of the behavior of North Korean leaders.

"I do think it is a good planning effort," Locklear said. "It has provided U.S. General [James] Thurman and his counterparts there the opportunity to ensure the right command and control and the right coordination is in place, to ensure that as we approach future provocations, that we do so in a predictable way that allows us to manage those provocations, hopefully without unnecessary escalation that none of us want."

Locklear said he would order the interception of a North Korean missile if it poses a direct threat to the United States or its allies. He said he would not recommend shooting down any North Korean missile regardless of its trajectory. The admiral said it would not take long to determine where such a missile is going to land.

Missile concerns

South Korean media quoted government officials as saying North Korea appears to be preparing to test fire another missile in the coming days.

North Korea has threatened to attack the South, the United States and U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region in retaliation for the latest economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang by the U.N. Security Council. Those sanctions have been aimed at punishing Pyongyang for carrying out nuclear and missile tests in defiance of Security Council resolutions.

Japan responded to Pyongyang's threats on Tuesday, deploying ballistic missile interceptors around Tokyo to defend the city from a potential North Korean missile strike.

International relations analyst Nick Bisley of Australia's Latrobe University said a new missile launch by Pyongyang would not be as dangerous as the prospect of a fourth North Korean nuclear test.

"A missile test is provocative and will certainly add to the sense of insecurity in the region," Bisley said. "A further nuclear test would ... have a lot of people very disconcerted, given that it would show they have a lot more capacity to set up tests, to undertake them, and would probably indicate that they are taking further steps down the nuclearization path."

Severing links

Pyongyang also took a step to cut its last economic ties with Seoul, suspending production at a jointly operated industrial zone where South Korean manufacturers employ cheap laborers in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

None of the 53,000 North Korean employees at the complex showed up for work on Tuesday. About 400 South Korean managers and other staff remained, unsure of whether operations will resume.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the decision to withdraw workers from the facility will hurt North Korea's international credibility as a place to do business.

"Investment is all about being able to anticipate results and trust, and when you have the North breaking international regulations and promises like this and suspending Kaesong while the world is watching, no country in the world will invest in the North,'' Ms. Park said.

Kaesong factory owners' association chief Han Jae-kwon said if the situation continues, the small and medium South Korean enterprises will face bankruptcy. He said the group wants to send a delegation to North Korea to discuss the fate of the Kaesong complex. He also called on Seoul and Pyongyang to hold talks to find a way to immediately normalize the facility's operations.

After touring the complex on Monday, North Korean Workers' Party Central Committee Secretary Kim Yang Gon said Pyongyang will reevaluate whether the near decade-old project will continue. Kim said that will depend on Seoul's attitude in the next few days.

Pyongyang's motives

Cedric Leighton, a crisis management analyst and retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, said North Korea wants to send a message that it can live without the joint industrial zone and the millions of dollars earned by its workers each year.

"They are clearly looking at a way to retain and reinvigorate their own economy through a system of self-sufficiency," Leighton said. "And that could mean a very interesting development, because as opposed to the views that we've heard before about Kim Jong Un being more open to the rest of the world, what this might instead presage is a possibility of a greater isolation of North Korea, if that's possible."

Admiral Locklear said Mr. Kim appears to be pursuing a policy of provocation less predictable than that of the North Korean leader's father and grandfather, whom he said had given themselves an "off ramp" to exit confrontations with the international community.

Steve Herman contributed to this report from Seoul and Victor Beattie contributed from Washington.
Source: VOA

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics

North Korea workers fail to turn up at Kaesong

North Korean employees have not reported for work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, suspending one of the few points of cooperation between North and South Korea.

More than 50,000 North Koreans usually work at Kaesong

More than 120 South Korean companies operate in Kaesong, which is located inside North Korea.

About 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there.

It is the latest in a stream of provocations that have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"As of now, no North Korean workers have reported to work this morning," a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry said.

The ministry added that 77 South Korean workers would leave the zone on Tuesday, but 479 were still inside Kaesong.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the boycott by North Korean workers would harm the country's credibility.

"Investment is all about being able to anticipate results and trust and when you have the North breaking international regulations and promises like this and suspending Kaesong while the world is watching, no country in the world will invest in the North," she told a cabinet meeting in Seoul.

Seen as a symbol of cross-border cooperation, Kaesong also provides hard currency for the North through taxes and the wages of the workers.

South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in salaries. As a whole, the Kaesong complex produced $470m worth of goods last year.

It accounts for nearly all inter-Korean trade.

However, North Korea has blocked access to South Koreans working there since Wednesday.

On Monday it said it would withdraw all its own employees and suspend operations in the zone. A decision would come later on whether it would shut it down for good.

North Korea has expressed anger at South Korean media reports that the North would not shut down Kaesong because it's struggling economy is heavily dependent on the complex.

Pyongyang has engaged in continuous threats and provocations towards Seoul and the US, after sanctions sparked by its third nuclear test in February. US and South Korean joint military exercises have also angered North Korea.

Source: BBC

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics

North Korea: UK's Hague calls for calm amid tensions

William Hague: "International partners should stay calm and not respond to Pyongyang's threats"

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for calm over the North Korean crisis.

Despite the "paranoid rhetoric" from Pyongyang, it was important to remain "firm and united," he, said warning of the dangers of a "miscalculation" by North Korea.

China's leader Xi Jinping said no country could be allowed to throw the region "into chaos for selfish gains".

North Korea has made a series of direct threats against the US and South Korea.

Since being sanctioned by the UN in March for carrying out a third nuclear test, Pyongyang has threatened nuclear strikes on the US, formally declared war on the South, and pledged to reopen a nuclear reactor in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

South Korea announced on Sunday that its top military official Gen Jung Seung-jo, was postponing a trip to Washington, where he was due to meet his US counterpart, because of the rising tensions.

The two sides had decided to reschedule the meeting "to maintain a firm defense readiness amid the current security situation," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a Joint Chiefs of Staff official as saying.

Meanwhile, Switzerland has offered to mediate with North Korea. However, the Swiss foreign ministry says there are currently no plans for any talks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was educated for several years under a pseudonym in traditionally neutral Switzerland, Swiss media say.

Missile test postponed

Mr Hague, speaking to the BBC, said: "We have to be concerned about the danger of miscalculation by the North Korean regime".

The foreign secretary said North Korean leaders were making "the wrong choice" between isolation and engagement with the international community, and warned "they will end up leading a broken, friendless country".

But he said there had not been in recent weeks the visible redeployment of ground forces consistent with an invasion plan, nor "a change in what is happening in North Korean society".

On Friday, North Korea warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff in the event of a war.

Mr Hague said he had not seen "any immediate need to respond to that by moving our diplomats out of there" but added that Britain would "keep this under close review with our allies and international partners".

"What is going on is what we have often seen throughout history," he said. "This is a regime that has to justify the intense militarisation of their society."

This week, the North reportedly moved at least one missile to its east coast. It has threatened to strike the Pacific island of Guam, where the US has a military base.

But US and South Korean officials have sought to play down fears of a conflict on the Korean peninsula, saying there are no indications Pyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.

Mr Xi, addressing a regional business forum on China's Hainan island, said the international community should advocate security and co-operation, "so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other".

China is North Korea's only ally and major trading partner, but has grown increasingly frustrated with North Korea's bellicosity.

Mr Xi did not name North Korea directly, but said that "no-one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains".

North Korea has not taken direct military action since 2010, when it shelled a South Korean island and killed four people.

This weekend the US said it was postponing a planned test of its own Minuteman 3 ballistic missile, saying it was concerned the launch could be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.

A Pentagon official said the US wanted to avoid any "miscalculation" that might result from the test.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says Pyongyang will likely use the delay to its advantage in propaganda, and say the US has been forced to climb down in the face of resilience from the North Korean army.

The North Korean media are full of images of military preparedness, he adds, intended to rally people behind the leadership.

Many observers say that North Korea's belligerent rhetoric appears intended for a domestic audience and at shoring up the position of Kim Jong-un, who came to power after his father's death in December 2011.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics

US: North Korea Must De-Escalate Tensions

South Korean soldiers patrol along the military fences near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North Korea from South Korea in Paju, north of Seoul Apr. 7, 2013.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says it is up to North Korea to de-escalate the latest flare-up of tensions on the Korean peninsula.  U.S. lawmakers are speaking of actual armed conflict with North Korea as something other than a remote hypothetical possibility.

White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer says North Korea engineered the current crisis, and it is up to North Korea to change its posture and tactics.

“North Korea is engaging in a pattern of behavior we have seen for many, many years: provocative actions, bellicose rhetoric.  And the key here, and the onus is on North Korea to take a step back, meet their international obligations - so they can undertake what they say is their number-one goal, which is economic development," he said. 

Pfeiffer spoke on the Fox News Sunday television program.

South Korean officials say Pyongyang may be preparing a new missile test in a bid to force diplomatic concessions from the international community.

Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press program, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said South Korea’s patience with its northern neighbor is wearing thin.

“They (South Korea) are not going to put up with this anymore.  I could see a major war happening if the North Koreans overplay their hand this time, because the public in South Korea, the United States, and the whole region is fed up with this guy," he said. 

And if armed conflict did occur? “The North loses and the South wins, with our help," he said. 

Fellow-Republican Senator John McCain agrees, but says the consequences would be severe.

“South Korea would win.  We would win if there was an all-out conflict.  But the fact is that North Korea could set Seoul on fire.  And that, obviously, would be a catastrophe of enormous proportions," he said. 

Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation program, McCain urged greater Chinese pressure on North Korea.

“China does hold the key to this problem.  China could cut off their [North Korea’s] economy if they want to," he said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently said that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain.”  Beijing is North Korea's sole financial and diplomatic backer.
Source: voa

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Posted in: Asia,Korea,Politics

North Korea warns foreign embassies to prepare escape

North Korea has told foreign embassies in Pyongyang it cannot guarantee their safety in the event of conflict, and to consider evacuating their employees.

Both Russia and the UK said they had no immediate plans to evacuate their embassies in the North Korean capital.
The North's move comes amid threats to attack US and South Korean targets.
South Korea has reportedly deployed two warships with missile defence systems after the North was said to have moved at least one missile to its east coast.
Military officials told South Korean media the two warships would be deployed on the east and west coasts.

Seoul has played down the North's missile move: It said the move may be for a test rather than a hostile act.

For its part, the US said it would not be surprised if North Korea were to conduct a new missile test, with White House spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters: "We have seen them launch missiles in the past."
Russia 'deeply concerned' British diplomats said on Friday the North had asked them to respond by 10 April on what support the embassy would need in the event of any evacuation - and they were considering their moves.
"We are consulting international partners about these developments," said a Foreign and Commonwealth Office statement. "No decisions have been taken, and we have no immediate plans to withdraw our Embassy."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was "deeply concerned about the escalation of tension, which for now is verbal".
"We want to understand the reasons behind this offer," he said. "We were interested in finding out whether this was a decision taken by the North Korean leadership to evacuate embassies, or just an offer."
Anecdotal reports from Pyongyang suggest the mood there is calm, and many believe North Korea is deliberately trying to create a sense of crisis, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
One of the US targets named by Pyongyang was the Pacific island of Guam, which hosts a US military base.
On Thursday, the US confirmed it would deploy a missile defence system to Guam in response to the threats.

South Korea's foreign minister told MPs on Thursday that the North had moved a missile to the east coast, which is the location for previous military tests.

Unconfirmed reports on Friday said the North had moved two missiles - thought to be mid-range Musudans, which are untested in flight but are thought to have the capacity to reach as far as Guam - and loaded them on to launchers.
Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, said that two warships equipped with Aegis defence systems would monitor the situation.
'Turn down volume' Despite North Korea's belligerent rhetoric, it has not taken direct military action since 2010, when it shelled a South Korean island and killed four people.
But in recent weeks it has threatened nuclear strikes and attacks on the US and South Korea.
It has announced a formal declaration of war on the South, and pledged to reopen a mothballed nuclear reactor in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
Many of North Korea's angry statements have cited the annual military exercises between US and South Korean forces as provocation.
The US flew nuclear-capable B2 and B52 bombers over the South as part of the drill, and has since deployed warships with missile defence systems to the region.

Regional papers reflect on crisis

In South Korea

• Chosun Ilbo says: "The military has pledged to maintain a solid defence amid increasing threats from North Korea, but incident after incident shows how empty that pledge is."
• Joong Ang Daily writes: "The escalation of tension by the North has hardly affected the South. Pyongyang's provocations are aimed at consolidating Kim Jong-un's power base at home."

In Japan

• According to Yomiuri Shimbun: "Kim should be keenly aware that the pursuits of nuclear armament and economic reconstruction are incompatible."
• Asahi Shimbun writes: "The United States and its two regional allies, Japan and South Korea, should start working closely together in serious efforts to figure out the best way to deal with North Korea."

• How potent are threats?
• Missile programme

North Korea's official media say the US is surrounding the peninsula with a nuclear threat from land, sea and air.

Quotes from unnamed Pentagon officials suggest Washington is now questioning whether some of its actions may have contributed to the tension, with CNN quoting one official as saying the US would try to "turn the volume down" on its rhetoric.
Meanwhile, retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro has urged restraint on the Korean Peninsula in his first newspaper "reflections" piece for nine months.
Writing of the wider impact that a nuclear war could unleash in Asia and beyond, Mr Castro said Havana had always been and would continue to be an ally of North Korea, but asked it to consider the interests of its friends.
In recent weeks, the North has shut down an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang and stopped South Koreans from working at a joint industrial complex in the North.
The Kaesong complex, one of the last remaining symbols of co-operation between the neighbours, is staffed mainly by North Koreans but funded and managed by South Korean firms.

 Source: bbc

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Posted in: Japan,Korea,Politics,USA,xã hội