Posts Tagged South Korea

NKorea warns of nuclear war amid rising tensions

Jun 14

North Korea’s communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making program in defiance of new U.N. sanctions.

The North’s defiance presents a growing diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North’s missile and nuclear programs.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told security-related ministers during an unscheduled meeting Sunday to “resolutely and squarely” cope with the North’s latest threat, his office said. Lee is to leave for the U.S. on Monday morning.

A commentary Sunday in the North’s main state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, claimed the U.S. has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another commentary published Saturday in the state-run Tongil Sinbo weekly claimed the U.S. has been deploying a vast amount of nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.

North Korea “is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world,” the Tongil Sinbo commentary said.

Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. military command in Seoul, called the latest accusation “baseless,” saying Washington has no nuclear bombs in South Korea. U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea in 1991 as part of arms reductions following the Cold War.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry issued a statement Sunday demanding the North stop stoking tension, abandon its nuclear weapons and return to dialogue with the South.

On Saturday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships on the high seas under the new sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday as punishment for the North’s latest nuclear test.

It is not clear if the statements are simply rhetorical. Still, they are a huge setback for international attempts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions following its second nuclear test on May 25. It first tested a nuclear device in 2006.

In Saturday’s statement, North Korea said it has been enriching uranium to provide fuel for its light-water reactor. It was the first public acknowledgment the North is running a uranium enrichment program in addition to its known plutonium-based program. The two radioactive materials are key ingredients in making atomic bombs.

On Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported South Korea and the U.S. have mobilized spy satellites, reconnaissance aircraft and human intelligence networks to obtain evidence that the North has been running a uranium enrichment program.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report. The National Intelligence Service — South Korea’s main spy agency — was not available for comment.

North Korea said more than one-third of 8,000 spent fuel rods in its possession has been reprocessed and all the plutonium extracted would be used to make atomic bombs. The country could harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb — if all the rods are reprocessed.

In addition, North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs.

North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its regime. Washington, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention.

The new U.N. sanctions are aimed at depriving the North of the financing used to build its rogue nuclear program. The resolution also authorized searches of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit ballistic missile and nuclear materials.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the new U.N. penalties provide the necessary tools to help check North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The sanctions show that “North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver those weapons through missiles is not going to be accepted by the neighbors as well as the greater international community,” Clinton said Saturday at a news conference in Canada.

Tags: Atomic Bomb, Barack Obama, Central News Agency, Communist Regime, Kim Yong, Korean Central News, Korean Central News Agency, Korean Counterpart, Korean Peninsula, Military Command, Nuclear Attack, Nuclear Bombs, Nuclear Programs, Nuclear Test, Nuclear War, President Lee, South Korea, South Korean President, Tactical Nuclear Weapons, Unification Ministry

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NKorea says it will ‘weaponize’ its plutonium

Jun 13

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

North Korea vowed Saturday to step up its atomic bomb-making program and threatened war if its ships are stopped as part of new U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the nation for its latest nuclear test.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry also acknowledged for the first time that the country has a uranium enrichment program, and insisted it will never abandon its nuclear ambitions. Uranium and plutonium can be used to make atomic bombs.

The threats, in a statement issued through the official Korean Central News Agency, came a day after the Security Council approved new sanctions aimed at depriving the North of the financing used to build its rogue nuclear program.

The resolution also authorized searches of North Korean ships suspected of transporting illicit ballistic missile and nuclear materials.

The sanctions are “yet another vile product of the U.S.-led offensive of international pressure aimed at undermining … disarming DPRK and suffocating its economy,” the North Korean statement said.

Pyongyang blamed Washington for the nuclear tensions, saying it was “compelled to go nuclear in the face of the U.S. hostile policy and its nuclear threats.”

Washington says it has no intention of attacking the North and said its concern is that North Korea is trying to sell its nuclear technology to other nations.

Saturday’s threats made clear North Korea’s refusal to back down from international calls to give up its nuclear ambitions in the wake of its April rocket launch and underground nuclear test last month.

The statement also raised concerns of a military skirmish.

“An attempted blockade of any kind by the U.S. and its followers will be regarded as an act of war and met with a decisive military response,” the North said.

As a precaution, South Korea has dispatched hundreds more marines to two islands near a western maritime border with North Korea that was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002, officials said Friday.

North Korea’s acknowledgment that it has a uranium-enrichment program appears to confirm that it has a second source of bomb-making materials in addition to plutonium.

North Korea is believed to have about 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of plutonium, enough for half a dozen bombs, Yoon Deok-min, a professor at South Korea’s state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said Saturday.

Reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods stored at North Korea’s Yongbyon complex could yield additional 18 to 22 pounds (8-10 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one more atomic bomb, he said.

More than a third of the spent fuel rods have been reprocessed and the rest of its plutonium will be weaponized, North Korea said Saturday.

Those moves would mark a significant step away from a disarmament pact between North Korea and five other nations in wake of its first nuclear test in 2006.

Under the deal, North Korea agreed to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang in return for 1 million tons of fuel oil and other concessions. In June 2008, North Korea blew up the cooling tower there in a dramatic show of its commitment to denuclearization.

But disablement came to halt a month later as Pyongyang wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past atomic activities. The latest round of talks, in December, failed to push the process forward. The negotiations involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.

North Korea walked away from the talks in April after the Security Council condemned its April 5 rocket launch, seen by the U.S., Japan and others as a cover for a long-range missile test.

North Korea has said it will test another long-range missile and is suspected of preparing for a third nuclear test, but there is no evidence that either plan is imminent.

Washington had anticipated a strong North Korean response to the U.N. sanctions. Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, cautioned Friday that North Korea could react to the resolution with “further provocation.”

“There’s reason to believe they may respond in an irresponsible fashion to this,” she told reporters.

Analyst Kim Yong-hyun of Seoul’s Dongguk University said North Korea was sending a stern message to Washington before President Barack Obama sits down with South Korea’s Lee Myung-bak for summit talks at the White House on Tuesday.

He said North Korea is engaging in a game of “chicken” with the U.S. that he predicted would eventually end in talks.

Tags: Atomic Bomb, Atomic Bombs, Ballistic Missile, Central News Agency, Hostile Policy, Korean Central News, Korean Central News Agency, Military Response, North Korea, Nuclear Ambitions, Nuclear Materials, Nuclear Technology, Nuclear Tensions, Nuclear Test North Korea, Nuclear Threats, Rocket Launch, South Korea, Two Islands, Underground Nuclear Test, Uranium Enrichment Program

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NKorean leader’s son is ‘Brilliant Comrade’

Jun 12

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

The youngest son of North Korea’s authoritarian leader has been given the title of “Brilliant Comrade,” a newspaper reported Friday, a sign the communist regime is preparing to name him as successor to the ailing Kim Jong Il.

U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities disclosed during a meeting this week that 26-year-old Kim Jong Un is now being referred to in the secretive regime as “Yongmyong-han Dongji,” which translates roughly as “Brilliant Comrade,” South Korea’s mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported.

An unidentified intelligence official quoted by the newspaper said the title means the North will engineer a cult of personality for the younger Kim — much like it was done for his father and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the only two leaders North Korea has seen.

The eldest Kim founded North Korea in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II when the peninsula was divided between the Soviet Union-controlled north and the U.S.-backed south.

Kim, who was referred to as the “Great Leader,” died in 1994, paving the way for the first hereditary transfer of power in a communist nation. His son, Kim Jong Il, became the “Dear Leader.”

The ailing 67-year-old Kim, who reportedly suffered a stroke last year, is said to be grooming “Brilliant Comrade” Jong Un, the youngest of his three sons, to succeed him. Jong Un reportedly studied at the International School in Berne, Switzerland, in the 1990s, and is said to be proficient in English.

Grandiose titles are part of a tradition to stimulate public support in a nation where the media is tightly controlled and little information about the inner workings of the government is available. The leader is given credit for most national projects. The state media carry endless flattering reports about Kim, repeatedly referring to him with his various titles of which “Dear Leader” is the most prominent.

Earlier this week, North Korea’s main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial that an important issue concerning the nation’s fate and its revolution had been resolved.

Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul said this was an apparent reference to a power transfer.

“It indicates that North Korea has resolved the succession issue,” he said.

The developments come as a U.S. official said Thursday that North Korea may be preparing for a third nuclear test in defiance of the United Nations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the unreleased information, would not provide details regarding the assessment.

Analysts speculate credit for any such test would be given to Jong Un to establish his credentials before he takes over.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve sanctions on the regime for conducting the previous nuclear tests on May 25. The sanctions seek to curb the North’s weapons exports and financial dealings. They would also allow inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.

North Korea describes its nuclear program — which became public after its first test in 2006 — as a deterrent against possible U.S. attacks. Washington says it has no intention of attacking and has expressed fear that North Korea is trying to sell its nuclear technology to other nations.

“North Korea needs at least two more tests to perfect its nuclear weapons system,” Baek Seung-joo, an analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told The Associated Press.

“It appears the North has concluded that possessing nuclear weapons is the way for it to survive. I think a third nuclear test is fairly possible.”

Tags: Aftermath Of World War Ii, Authoritarian Leader, Berne Switzerland, Communist Nation, Communist Regime, Comrade, Cult Of Personality, Dongji, Inner Workings, Intelligence Official, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Mass Circulation, National Projects, North Korea, Paving The Way, South Kim, South Korea, World War Ii, Youngest Son