North Korea News

[Carnut]

North Korea Sets a New Trap for Obama

By Gordon G. Chang - FOXNews.com

The world’s most bizarre leader, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, has just left Beijing. There is one thing we can be sure of: he and his Chinese hosts were up to no good. That is usually the case when they get together. Now, however, their scheming is particularly threatening to the United States. And if we can judge from recent public statements, the Obama administration will fall for their latest trap.

What’s going on? Thursday, sources in Beijing report that Chairman Kim has agreed to return to the China-sponsored six-party nuclear talks. The talks—also involving the U.S., Japan, Russia, and South Korea—began in August 2003 and have not resulted in the “denuclearization” of the North, their purpose.

Instead, Beijing has used the negotiations to obtain assistance from the international community for Pyongyang and to give the North Koreans time, the one thing they needed most to make themselves a threat to global stability. While the talks dragged on, the North, among other things, staged its first detonation of a nuclear device—in October 2006—and tested long-range missiles. Moreover, Pyongyang, during the negotiations, sold nuclear weapons technology to Iran.
The last round of the six-party talks was held in December 2008. Last year, in April, Pyongyang announced its withdrawal from the multilateral discussions by declaring it would “never” participate again. The North’s strategy has been to gain acceptance as a nuclear weapons state by preventing the restarting of disarmament negotiations.

So why should Kim agree to the resumption of the Beijing talks now? The sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean frigate, on March 26 seems to be central to his decision-making. Forensic evidence shows that a torpedo destroyed the vessel, which was in South Korean waters close to the North at the time of the incident. The loss of 46 sailors has outraged the South’s military and most of the country’s citizens, who have demanded retribution against Pyongyang, the only possible perpetrator. In reaction, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul has announced there can be no resumption of the six-party talks until the Cheonan matter is resolved. It is, understandably, politically impossible for the South Korean government to engage in any process that will result in additional aid for Kim’s Korea.

Yet the Obama administration has been pressing precisely for that, even after the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan. “We of course face a set of uncertainties in the short-term as we await the results of the investigation of the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel,” said Stephen Bosworth, Washington’s special envoy on North Korea, late last month. “But looking beyond that I think that there is reason to believe that multilateral engagement remains the essential condition for making progress on greater stability, denuclearization, peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula.”

Actually, there is no reason to believe any of that. Multilateral engagement has, unfortunately, made matters worse in North Asia during both the Clinton
and Bush administrations. Bosworth may not want to hear this, but more than six decades has demonstrated that the essential condition for making real progress on the Korean peninsula is the abolition of the North Korean state.

Nonetheless, Washington continues to put its faith in multilateral diplomacy—in other words, continues to outsource its foreign policy to our adversary’s only friend, Beijing. Yet, despite all the optimism in American diplomatic circles about obtaining China’s cooperation, Chinese officials continue to support Mr. Kim’s regime. And now both Beijing and Pyongyang are, jointly, executing a new strategy. By announcing North Korea’s agreement to return to the six-party talks, they can obtain additional food and other material assistance from the international community, blunt any South Korean diplomatic offensive to punish Kim for sinking the Cheonan, and split Seoul away from Washington due to their differing views on continued nuclear negotiations.

The Obama administration is bound to fall for the ploy as it has made the resumption of the six-party talks a high priority. The talks, as we have learned by now, have almost no chance of succeeding. But we are now talking about the talks—and alienating our staunch ally in the region—so that we can please Beijing and its communist ally.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/05/07/gordon-g-chang-akio-north-korea-china-south-korea-obama-white-house/

[Carnut]

Nuclear Factor Complicates Korean Standoff Over Sunken Ship

The delicate standoff on the Korean peninsula over charges that North Korea sank a South Korean ship -- killing 46 sailors -- stands as a compelling example of why rogue states want nuclear weapons.

Nobody wants to mess with them.

"No other state their size on Earth has that kind of military capability," said Bruce Bechtol, author of "Red Rogue: The Persistent Challenge of North Korea."

South Korean and U.S. officials are now weighing their options for how to handle the findings of an investigative report that formally blamed a North Korean torpedo attack for sinking the frigate Cheonan on March 26. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed Thursday that the South Koreans are calling the shots and "we will be consulting very closely with them as we move ahead." The State Department said there would be "consequences."

But the early response is almost certain to come in the form of public condemnation and economic sanctions rather than military action, observers say. Administration officials would not go so far as to label the attack an act of war -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he would not get into "hypotheticals" when asked if the dispute could lead to war. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States is focused on supporting its "strong ally" while at the same time considering "stability in that region."

The nuclear arsenal isn't necessarily the biggest worry, since the regime is incapable of delivering those weapons on a long-range missile that could hit, say, the United States. The country's sizable military and arsenal of conventional weapons -- which are well in range of Seoul -- make the prospect of all-out war on the peninsula terrifying. That's what North Korea is threatening as it accuses South Korea of fabricating evidence.

But Bechtol, a professor at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, said North Korea holds a major "deterrent" in its hands with its nuclear arsenal. While delivery methods are limited, he said the North is capable of using aircraft or ships to attack the South with a nuclear weapon and could also use a medium-range missile to hit countries as far away as Japan.

All this inevitably factors in as South Korea and its allies consider a response. And it demonstrates why the Obama administration is so keen on halting the development of nuclear weapons.

The administration has been on a high-profile campaign over the past several months to reduce nuclear arsenals around the world and keep nations like North Korea and Iran from developing them. The United Nations this week reviewed a proposal for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which the country's government insists is for peaceful purposes.

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said it's unlikely Kim Jong Il would try to deploy a nuclear weapon, but the danger of the country's weapons getting loose should the regime fall apart in the throes of a military conflict is what worries officials.

In the near-term, he said North Korea's ability to inflict major damage on South Korea with conventional weapons is what will lead nations like the United States to urge restraint.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement Wednesday that the United States "strongly condemns the act of aggression," but left open the door to what options the United States is considering.

"This attack constitutes a challenge to international peace and security," he said. "It reinforces the resolve of its neighbors to intensify their cooperation to safeguard peace and stability in the region against all provocations."

But Bandow said that if the South Korean's investigative findings are correct, "This suggests the North committed an act of war."

He said the challenge is to punish North Korea without triggering a military conflict.

"To sink a South Korean ship is a major provocation," he said. "There are no good answers here."

A U.S. official told FoxNews.com that the United States is waiting until South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meets with his government on Monday and will take its cues from there.

"South Koreans have the lead on this issue. Obviously we support them," the official said.

Bechtol said that while South Korea has probably not taken military action off the table, such a response is unlikely.

He added: "If North Korea conducts another provocation then all bets are off."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/20/nuclear-factor-complicates-korean-stand-sunken-ship/

Carnut - - It's kinda obvious that our Head Sissy In Charge can't do a darn thing about North Korea, even if he actually wanted to.

[Carnut]

UN experts say NKorea is exporting nuclear and ballistic missile technology

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts say North Korea  is exporting nuclear and ballistic missile technology and using intermediaries, shell companies and overseas criminal networks to circumvent U.N. sanctions.

The seven-member panel monitoring sanctions against North Korea said in a report obtained by The Associated Press late Thursday that its research indicates that Pyongyang is involved in banned nuclear and ballistic activities in Iran, Syria and Myanmar. It called for further study of these suspected activities and urged all countries to try to prevent them.

The 47-page report and a lengthy annex document sanctions violations reported by U.N. member states, including four cases involving arms exports and two seizures of luxury goods. The report also details the broad range of techniques that North Korea is using to try to evade sanctions imposed after its nuclear tests.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/27/apnewsbreak-experts-say-nkorea-exporting-nuclear-ballistic-missile-technology/?test=latestnews

Carnut - - So what else is new? Not as if the world didn't already know this stuff.

[MumInOhio]

NKorea tensions spike at Asian security forum

  By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer Jim Gomez, Associated Press Writer   – 42 mins ago

HANOI, Vietnam – North Korea inflamed tensions over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship by threatening the United States and South Korea on Friday with a "physical response" if they carry out naval maneuvers this weekend. The U.S. refused to back down.

The latest threat came four months after the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. The North has been blamed, but vehemently denies any involvement.

In Vietnam for a Southeast Asian regional security forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the sinking, the four-day military drills beginning Sunday and the imposition of new U.S. sanctions against the North.

Also Friday, the U.S.-led military command monitoring the cease-fire on the Korean peninsula confronted the North about the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, calling it a violation of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean war. Colonels from the U.N. Command, who met at the border with counterparts from the North's army, reminded them of the U.N. Security Council order to honor the truce. Officers also proposed a joint task force to discuss armistice violations, the military commission said in a statement.

A team of international investigators concluded in May that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo that sank the Cheonan. The U.N. Security Council approved a presidential statement this month condemning the sinking, but did not directly blame Pyongyang.

The U.N. Command, however, blames North Korea and considers the sinking a violation of the cease-fire, a command official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the results of the command's own investigation have not been released.

At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Hanoi, North Korean spokesman Ri Tong Il repeated Pyongyang's denial of responsibility for the sinking. He said the upcoming military drills — to be conducted in the Sea of Japan off Korea's east coast and in the Yellow Sea closer to China's shores — were a violation of its sovereignty that harkened back to the days of 19th-century "gunboat diplomacy."

The exercises will be "another expression of hostile policy against" North Korea. "There will be physical response against the threat imposed by the United States militarily," Ri told reporters.

Clinton responded by saying the U.S. is willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but that this type of threat only heightens tensions. She added that progress in the short term seems unlikely.

"It is distressing when North Korea continues its threats and causes so much anxiety among its neighbors and the larger region," she told reporters. "But we will demonstrate once again with our military exercises ... that the United States stands in firm support of the defense of South Korea and we will continue to do so."

Shortly before Ri spoke, Clinton had lashed out against belligerent acts by the North, warning Pyongyang must reverse a "campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior" if it wants improved relations with its neighbors and the United States.

She said stability in the region, particularly on the Korean peninsula, depends in large part on persuading an "isolated and belligerent" North Korea to alter course and return to nuclear disarmament talks which it pulled out of last year.

Members of the U.S. and North Korean delegations did not meet at the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, which has in the past been a venue for talks between the two sides. The 27-member bloc — 10 members of ASEAN and countries with major interests in the area like the U.S., China, Japan, North and South Korea and Russia — expressed "deep concern" over the Cheonan's sinking in a joint statement, a weakened version of an earlier ASEAN statement.

On Wednesday, Clinton announced in the South Korean capital that the U.S. would slap new sanctions on the North to stifle its nuclear ambitions and punish it for the sinking of the South Korean ship. The penalties will target the country's elite by taking aim at illicit activities, such as counterfeiting cigarettes and cash and money laundering.

On Friday, the European Union said it will also consider imposing new sanctions on the North.

In addition to North Korea's behavior and its nuclear program, Clinton raised concerns about potential atomic collaboration between the North and Myanmar, also known as Burma, which is restricted by U.N. agreements.

Numerous reports in past months have suggested that Myanmar's military rulers are attempting to develop nuclear weapons with North Korean help.

Clinton lambasted Myanmar for its dismal human rights record and called on its military junta to hold free and fair elections this year and release political prisoners, including Nobel Peace laureate and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Clinton's comments on Myanmar echoed those of previous U.S. administrations, but they come as President Barack Obama has made a push for expanded engagement with Southeast Asia.

In an indication of increased involvement, Clinton said "the United States has a national interest" in resolving conflicting claims over the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea, particularly between China and Vietnam.

She said the disputes interfere with maritime commerce, hamper access to international waters in the area and undermine the U.N. law of the sea.

Her remarks are likely to anger China, which asserts sovereignty over the whole South China Sea, but Clinton said the U.S. did not support any country's sovereignty over the islands. She said the U.S. is willing to work with the all the parties, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines, to help negotiate an end to the disputes.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Margie Mason and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Kwang-Tae Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_on_re_as/as_asean

[MumInOhio]

This is getting very scary....With the time difference the start of the exercises are just hours away!

NKorea threatens 'nuclear deterrence' over drills
By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
Friday, July 23, 2010 11:28 PM EDT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — North Korea threatened Saturday to mount a powerful nuclear response to upcoming joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, calling the exercises an "unpardonable" provocation on top of wrongly blaming Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission, led by leader Kim Jong Il, warned that its troops would counter the move to hold military maneuvers involving a nuclear-armed U.S. supercarrier with a "retaliatory sacred war."

"The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces," North Korea's official news agency in Pyongyang quoted an unnamed commission spokesman as saying, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang routinely threatens war when South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which North Korea sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the North. The U.S. keeps 28,500 troops in the South to deter against aggression, but says it has not intention of invading the North.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young announced earlier this week in Seoul that the allies would stage a massive four-day military show of force starting Sunday to send a "clear message" to North Korea to stop its aggressive behavior.

Washington and Seoul blame Pyongyang for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in the waters off Korea's west coast. Forty-six sailors were killed in what Seoul calls the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea vehemently denies any involvement, and has warned that any punishment would trigger war.

In Vietnam for a Southeast Asian regional security forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a North Korean official traded barbs over the sinking, the military drills and the imposition of new U.S. sanctions against the North.

More at Link...

http://www.armstrongmywire.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9H537I82%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1012&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL2_UNEWS

[Carnut]

Really wish N. Korea would use up it's few nukes so it would give us an excuse to make a glass parking lot out of the place.

[MumInOhio]

Korean News Link

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm


 NDC States to Counter US-S. Korea War Exercises with Nuclear Deterrence

Pyongyang, July 24 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces finally went into reckless actions against the DPRK after having frantically pushed ahead with the moves to stifle the DPRK under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case.

A spokesman for the DPRK National Defence Commission issued a statement on Saturday clarifying the principled stand of the army and people of the DPRK in this regard.

It said: The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces are planning to stage joint naval exercises in the East Sea of Korea from July 25 to 28, the "Ulji Freedom Guardian" joint exercises and joint anti-submarine exercises in the West Sea of Korea from August 16 to 26 and different ceaseless joint naval exercises from late in August to early in September and other drills. All these war maneuvers are nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the DPRK by force of arms to all intents and purposes.

If the publication of the results of investigation into the "Cheonan" case which was faked up by the U.S. imperialists at instigation of their puppet forces was the first reckless military provocation to the DPRK, the joint naval maneuvers they are to stage even with nuclear strike means involved under the pretext of the above-said case amount to an unpardonable second military provocation to the DPRK, the statement noted, and continued:

The chief architect of the warship case seems to send a "message as deterrence" to somebody while staging offensive exercises under the pretext of the forged case after falsifying its truth. This is as reckless an act as waking up a sleeping tiger.

The DPRK National Defence Commission re-clarifies the following principled stand as regards this abnormal situation where the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces are threatening this land with a nuclear war under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case:

The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces.

The more desperately the U.S. imperialists brandish their nukes and the more zealously their lackeys follow them, the more rapidly the DPRK's nuclear deterrence will be bolstered up along the orbit of self-defence and the more remote the prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be become.

The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war.

Now that the U.S. imperialists are persisting in their direct military provocations in gross violation of the spirit of the September 19 joint statement in which they promised not to attack or invade the DPRK with either nuclear or conventional weapons, it is a natural option of the army and people of the DPRK to take corresponding all-out retaliatory measures.

The army and people of the DPRK will take all steps to the last to thoroughly probe the truth behind the case under the situation where the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces persistently and deliberately link the DPRK with the "Cheonan" case.

It is a legitimate and sovereign right to protect the honor and dignity of the DPRK for them to probe the truth about the despicable "fabrication" and "charade."

The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces will keenly realize what high price they will have to pay for their reckless military provocation rendering the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the worst phase under the pretext of the "Cheonan" case.

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

 
Kim Il Sung's Work Off Press in Venezuela
Pyongyang, July 23 (KCNA) -- President Kim Il Sung's work "Let Us Step Up Socialist Construction under the Banner of the Juche Idea" was brought out in e-book by the Venezuelan National Society for the Study of the Juche Idea on July 15.

Expounded in the work, published on September 9, Juche 67 (1978), are the ultimate goal of the DPRK government, which is to model the whole of society on the Juche idea, and the tasks and ways to push ahead with the three revolutions.

The work also deals with such problems as thoroughly smashing the "two Koreas" plot of the separatists at home and abroad.

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm