N. Korea ditches nonaggression pact with S. Korea

By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer Jae-soon Chang, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 30, 4:02 am ET

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Friday it is ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea, in an apparent attempt to use the threat of an armed clash to press Seoul to give up its "confrontational" stance.

 

The communist nation also said it will no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South, raising the prospect for an armed clash along the Yellow Sea boundary — the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two navies in 1999 and 2002.

 

South Korea said it regretted the North's latest move and warned it won't tolerate any attempt to violate the border.

 

Analysts said Pyongyang's threats could signal it is preparing for an armed confrontation, but only as a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Seoul to get the neighbor to soften its hard-line stance — and attracting President Barack Obama's attention.

 

"This signals that North Korea will stage a provocation" — probably near the maritime border, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

 

The isolated regime could then use the threat of an armed clash to pressure Seoul to change course with the North, said Yang Moo-jin, an expert at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

 

But Kim added that any skirmish would be limited in scale and intensity because Pyongyang is aware that serious deadly clashes would irreparably harm relations with Seoul — and Obama's new administration, whose attention the North is seeking, he said.

 

A Defense Ministry official said the military has stepped up vigilance along the land and sea borders with the North. The official, who declined to give his name citing department policy, said more guard posts have been installed along the land border, but could not offer details about what's been done on the sea border.

 

Yonhap news agency said the navy deployed a warship near the maritime boundary and strengthened radar and other surveillance systems. The ministry official said he was checking the report.

 

The two Koreas technically remain at war because their brutal, three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, with thousands of troops stationed on both sides of the border.

 

Relations had warmed considerably over the past decade, with Seoul's liberal leadership adopting a "sunshine policy" of extending aid to the impoverished North as a way to facilitate reconciliation.

 

But South Korea's current president, conservative Lee Myung-bak, has not committed to accords signed by his predecessors — a stance Pyongyang says proves his hostility. The regime cut off reconciliation talks soon after he took office nearly a year ago.

 

Lee has refused to give in to the pressure, saying he will "wait" until Pyongyang agrees to return to the reconciliation talks.

 

On Friday, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea — a ruling Workers' Party organ in charge of ties with Seoul — declared all past peacekeeping accords with the South "dead," claiming Lee is escalating tensions with the regime.

 

"The group of traitors has already reduced all the agreements reached between the North and the South in the past to dead documents," the committee said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

 

The statement specifically mentioned a nonaggression pact that the two sides signed in late 1991 pledging not to invade each other and to seek peaceful unification. The so-called Basic Agreement has served as a basis for future peace accords, such as summit agreements signed in 2000 and 2007.

 

It also said the maritime boundary off the divided peninsula's west coast will be "nullified."

 

The U.S.-led United Nations Command unilaterally drew the Yellow Sea border, also known as the Northern Limit Line or NLL, at the end of the war — but Pyongyang claims it should be redrawn farther south.

 

"The position of our military on the NLL is firm," Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said. "If the North violates it, we will sternly respond to that."

 

The latest verbal attack from Pyongyang comes as both Koreas watch to see how Obama's North Korea policy takes shape.

 

After eight years of icy relations with the Bush administration, Pyongyang hopes to have improved relations with Obama, analysts say. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with Kim Jong Il if it advances the effort to disarm the North of its nuclear capabilities.

 

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said the government regretted the North's move and urged the regime to defuse the tensions through dialogue.

 

The Defense Ministry said its troops remain on alert, though there have been no unusual moves by the North's military.

 

Earlier this month, the North's military accused the South of preparing to wage war and said it had adopted an "all-out confrontational posture" to rebuff any southern aggression.

 

Seoul denied plotting any attack on the North.

 

North Korea, which tested a nuclear bomb in 2006, signed a pact in 2007 with five other nations — the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Russia and China — agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for aid.

 

That process has been stalled since August, and talks in Beijing in December failed to get the process back on track.

 

___

 

Associated Press writer Jean H. Lee contributed to this report.

 

Find Associated Press Article here on yahoo.com

Very disturbing news, and one time more, I don't see those news in the mass media news.

Very disturbing news, and one time more, I don't see those news in the mass media news.

 

It was also reported on BBC

Very disturbing news, and one time more, I don't see those news in the mass media news.

 

The British press only care about Korean people if they're female, famous and not wearing many clothes.

Very disturbing news, and one time more, I don't see those news in the mass media news.

 

The British press only care about Korean people if they're female, famous and not wearing many clothes.

 

Wow I wish the American press would care even that much ( No I really do wish they cared exactly that much , but we are too busy being in love with our new pres. to care about anything else.

From DefenseNews

 

N. Korea May Be Prepping For Missile Test: Report

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 2 Feb 20:58 EST (01:58 GMT)

 

WASHINGTON - The United States has detected signs in recent weeks that North Korea may be preparing to test a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, a U.S. official said Feb. 3.

 

"There are some signs that the North Koreans are preparing for a Taepodong-2 launch," the U.S. counter-proliferation official said. "But whether it will carry out the launch or not is entirely unclear, as is the timing for a possible launch."

 

The official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the North Koreans "appear to be assembling the kinds of equipment you would expect to see in advance of such a launch."

From DefenseNews

 

Expert: Hard-Liners Now Dominate N. Korea Policy

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 4 Feb 21:58 EST (02:58 GMT)

 

WASHINGTON - North Korea is taking a harder line in the six-party nuclear negotiations as hawks now dominate defense policy following the illness of leader Kim Jong-Il, a U.S. expert said Feb. 4.

 

Selig Harrison, speaking at a Washington think tank following his trip to North Korea last month, said the harder line also reflected fears that South Korea, under new President Lee Myung-Bak, wanted to absorb the North.

 

"North Korea has suddenly adopted a much harder line than before and the question is why," Harrison told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

 

Although some analysts believed it was a "bargaining posture" toward the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, he stressed two other factors: the fallout from the leader's illness and political changes in South Korea.

 

The Obama administration aims to pursue talks with the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia to scrap North Korea's weapons-grade nuclear programs, but the talks are deadlocked over a row about disarmament verification.

 

North Korean officials he met with dismissed reports of Kim's stroke in August as a "fabrication," but Harrison said that he believed the reports and that, according to "several well-informed sources," Kim has a greatly reduced work schedule.

 

"He has turned over day-to-day management of domestic affairs to his brother-in-law Jang Song-Thaek, and foreign affairs and defense policy is now largely in the hands of hawks in the national defense commission," he said.

 

He also said it was "a disastrous, historic mistake" for President Lee to say he will review the North-South summit declarations of June 2000 and October 2007 because it served to "revive North Korean fears that South Korea, the United States and Japan want regime change and absorption.

 

"They're especially sensitive about this with Kim Jong-Il ill," Harrison said.

 

He added that he "found no evidence that the sons are being taken seriously" as successors to Kim but said one of them might serve as a "figurehead," with Jang and the military running affairs of state.

 

Repeating remarks he gave to media in Beijing after his Jan. 13-17 trip to Pyongyang, he said that all the officials he met said North Korea has already "weaponized" the 69 pounds (31 kilograms) of plutonium acknowledged in the declaration submitted last year to its five partners in the negotiations.

 

That amount is enough for four or five weapons, he added.

 

Harrison said key people he met with were Li Gun, a top foreign ministry official and nuclear negotiator, Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun, and General Ri Chan Bok, spokesman of the National Defense Commission.

From DefenseNews

 

N. Korea Assembling Long-Range Missile: S. Korea

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 12 Feb 22:01 EST (03:01 GMT)

 

SEOUL - North Korea has apparently started assembling its longest-range missile and it could be ready for launch late this month, a South Korean news report said Feb. 13.

 

Chosun Ilbo newspaper, quoting an unidentified South Korean government official, said the first and second stages of the Taepodong-2 missile had been transported by train to the launch site at Musudan-ri on the northeast coast.

 

"The Taepodong-2 missile has not been seen around the launch pad. It seems that the first- and second-stage rockets are now being assembled," the official was quoted as saying.

 

When assembled, the missile is expected to be moved to the pad, put in an upright position and fueled for test-firing, the official said, adding that the earliest it could be launched is Feb. 25.

 

That is the first anniversary of the inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. The North views Lee as a bitter enemy because he has taken a firmer stance on cross-border relations than his predecessors.

 

It was not possible to confirm the report. South Korean authorities refuse comment on intelligence matters.

 

Analysts say a missile launch would be intended to put pressure on Lee to drop his harder line, and to persuade U.S. President Barack Obama to make the North one of his policy priorities.

 

Chosun said increased activities by vehicles and people had been spotted at Musudan-ri but the missile is out of sight of satellites in a covered plant.

 

It said the components were transported in a 40-meter (132-foot) covered rail wagon from a military plant near Pyongyang, denying U.S. satellites an opportunity to photograph them.

 

U.S. and South Korean officials have previously said the hard-line communist state seems to be preparing for another test of the Taepodong-2. An earlier missile blew up just 40 seconds it was first launched from Musudan-ri in July 2006.

 

At maximum range the missile could theoretically target Alaska.

 

South Korea has said that any such launch would bring the North increased isolation and added sanctions, while the United States has said it would be provocative.

From Defence Talk

 

NKorea fuels speculation of imminent missile launch

Agence France-Presse | Feb 16, 2009

 

SEOUL: North Korea on Monday fuelled speculation that it was preparing to test a long-range missile by suggesting it would go ahead with a rocket launch as part of what it called a space programme.

 

Pyongyang has previously tested missiles under the guise of launching a satellite and analysts said the latest comments from the North indicated the communist state was on the verge of another attention-grabbing test.

 

"One will come to know later what will be launched in the DPRK (North Korea)," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported as the hardline communist state celebrated the 67th birthday of leader Kim Jong-Il.

 

The North is under growing pressure to scrap apparent preparations to launch its longest-range Taepodong-2 missile, which could theoretically target Alaska.

 

Media reports citing intelligence from satellite photos say preparations at the Musudan-ri launch site on the northeast coast are well advanced.

 

Hillary Clinton, who this week makes her first Asian tour as US Secretary of State, last week urged the communist state to avoid provocation and stop "unhelpful rhetoric" towards South Korea.

 

The North depicted its launch of a Taepodong-1 missile back in August 1998 as an attempt to put a satellite into orbit.

 

It test-launched its Taepodong-2, with a maximum range of 6,700 kilometres (4,190 miles), in July 2006. US officials said it failed after 40 seconds and the United Nations imposed missile-related sanctions on Pyongyang.

 

It also tested an atomic weapon in 2006 but experts are unsure whether Pyongyang has the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.

 

Analysts said the North would likely portray a test as a satellite launch to avoid antagonising the nnew US administration excessively, even though it would also have a military purpose.

 

KCNA blasted rumours spread by "hostile forces" of a planned long-range missile launch.

 

"This is a vicious trick to put a brake on the wheel of not only the DPRK's building of military capability for self-defence but also scientific researches for peaceful purpose," it said.

 

"Space development is the independent right of the DPRK."

 

The official agency said "dishonest forces" were asserting that the North was planning a provocative act to draw attention.

 

"The DPRK has no need to draw anyone's attention and wants nobody to interfere or meddle in the issue of the Korean peninsula."

 

Analysts believe a launch would be aimed at persuading the Obama administration to make negotiations with the nuclear-armed state a priority.

 

Nuclear disarmament talks involving the United States and four regional powers are currently stalled, and the North is stepping up threats against South Korea's conservative government.

 

On Sunday, North Korea's de facto head of state, Kim Yong-Nam, threatened "decisive actions" against the South if it continues to "challenge" Pyongyang.

 

Kim, the highest-level official to threaten the South since relations soured last year, accused Seoul of pushing relations to the brink of war by violating summit accords in 2000 and 2007.

 

Monday's report was the second time this month that the North has asserted its right to a space programme.

 

"The DPRK's policy of advancing to space for peaceful purposes is a justifiable aim that fits the global trend of the times," Rodong Sinmun newspaper said earlier, noting that Iran successfully launched a satellite.

 

"It's very likely for North Korea to claim that it has been a satellite launch after test-firing the missile," Baek Seung-Joo of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses told AFP.

 

"It has multiple purposes for doing so -- to avoid a conflict with the new US government, to boast its advanced missile technology and also to boost internal unity by making its people take pride in the nation."

 

Despite Pyongayang's insistence that it has the right to space exploration, Baek said he believed the North "has no space programmes at all."

 

South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said Monday the North has moved all necessary materials to its Musudan-ri base. The South's military believes a missile can be assembled faster than initially expected, it quoted an unidentified senior military official as saying.