KIM CALLS FOR EASING OF TENSIONS WITH S.KOREA
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un called Tuesday for an easing of tensions with the South and flagged a
“radical turnabout” in the national economy in a rare voiced message broadcast
on state television.
“An important issue in putting an
end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to
remove confrontation between the North and the South,” Kim said in a New
Year’s message.
“The past records of inter-Korean
relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to
nothing but war,” he said.
- The message came just weeks after the election of the conservative Park Geun-Hye as South Korea’s new president and coincided with UN Security Council discussions on how to punish North Korea for its recent long-range rocket launch.
- The voiced message was the first of its kind since Kim’s grandfather and North Korean founder Kim Il-Sung delivered one in 1994, the year of his death.
- Kim Jong-Un, who took power after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il on December 17, 2011, also said 2013 would be a year of “great creations and changes in which a radical turnabout will be effected.”
- “’Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space!’ — this is the fighting slogan our Party and people should uphold this year,” he said.
CHINA PREPARED TO HOLD NKOREA ACCOUNTABLE FOR TORPEDO ATTACK
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska – China has signaled it could soon join the U.S. and its allies in blaming North Korea in the sinking of a South Korean warship, senior American officials said Wednesday.
Speaking after strategic talks this week in Beijing, the U.S. officials said China indicated it is prepared to hold North Korea accountable for the March 26 torpedo attack and could join in some kind of formal rebuke by the U.N. Security Council.
The Kremlin said in a statement Wednesday that President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a group of experts to Seoul to study the international investigation's findings.
"Medvedev considers it a matter of principle to establish the reason for the sinking of the ship," the statement said.
South Korea's Yu, asked about the possibility of China or Russia blocking action by the U.N. Security Council, said they "will take time, I'm sure, but they will not be able to deny the facts."
Source: AP
Speaking after strategic talks this week in Beijing, the U.S. officials said China indicated it is prepared to hold North Korea accountable for the March 26 torpedo attack and could join in some kind of formal rebuke by the U.N. Security Council.
- The move would represent a breakthrough for the White House, because so far China has resisted condemning North Korea for the incident, which cost the lives of 46 South Korean sailors. China has long been North Korea's patron and ally, propping up Pyongyang's Stalinist-style regime with financial and military aid as well as diplomatic support.
- On a visit to South Korea this weekend, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is likely to express regret for the deaths and hint that China will accept the results of an international investigation blaming North Korea, the U.S. officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions with China.
- Wen is also expected to leave open the possibility of backing action against Pyongyang at the U.N. Security Council, although it's not clear how far Beijing is prepared to go in rebuking its historic ally.
- In Seoul earlier Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the world must respond to the "unacceptable provocation" represented by the sinking of a South Korean warship, as Pyongyang engaged in blistering rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.
- Clinton told reporters after talks with South Korean leaders that "the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond" to the sinking, which "requires a strong but measured response." She spoke at a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
Clinton did not say what that response should be, but two U.S. officials said the U.N. could take a variety of actions, ranging from tightening sanctions to a statement rebuking Pyongyang.- As one of five permanent members of the Security Council with veto authority, China can block any measure the U.N. tries to take.
- Clinton spent hours discussing the sinking with top Chinese leaders during strategic and economic talks in Beijing on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, before spending a few hours in Seoul Wednesday.
- "I believe that the Chinese understand the seriousness of this issue and are willing to listen to the concerns expressed by both South Korea and the United States," she said in South Korea. "We expect to be working with China as we move forward in fashioning a response."
- Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have risen sharply since international investigators issued a report last week saying a North Korean submarine was likely responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan, a corvette patrolling the Yellow Sea.
- South Korea began implementing a package of punitive measures against the North on Tuesday — ranging from slashing trade, resuming propaganda warfare and barring the North's cargo ships.
- After meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Clinton endorsed the moves. "We're very confident in the South Korean leadership, and their decision about how and when to move forward is one that we respect and will support," she said.
- She praised the investigation of the sinking as "very thorough, highly professional" and "very convincing." She said both the United States and South Korea had offered China "additional information and briefings about the underlying facts of that event."
- "We hope that China will take us up on our offer to really understand the details of what happened and the objectivity of the investigation that led to the conclusions," she said.
- China is not the only potential roadblock the U.S. and its allies face when it comes to pushing a tough response through the U.N. Security Council. Russia is another of the veto-holding permanent council members and must also be persuaded to take action.
The Kremlin said in a statement Wednesday that President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a group of experts to Seoul to study the international investigation's findings. "Medvedev considers it a matter of principle to establish the reason for the sinking of the ship," the statement said.
South Korea's Yu, asked about the possibility of China or Russia blocking action by the U.N. Security Council, said they "will take time, I'm sure, but they will not be able to deny the facts."
NORTH KOREA THREATENS WAR
North Korea's military has gone on full alert and threatened "merciless retaliatory blows" just hours before US and South Korean forces began annual military exercises.
Pyongyang has also warned of war if what it calls a satellite launch - but what intelligence analysts believe is cover for a long range missile test - is shot down.
"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," said a statement carried on the North's official Korean Central news agency (KCNA) on Monday.
The statement warned of "prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means".
A day earlier North Korea threatened to "deal merciless retaliatory blows" if US and South Korean forces intrude "even an inch" into North Korean territory.
The US and South Korea began joint military exercises on Monday involving 26,000 US troops, more than 30,000 South Korean soldiers and the aircraft carrier USS Jong C Stennis.Commanders say the Key Resolve-Foal Eagle exercises are designed to test the ability to deploy troops and equipment to the Korean peninsula in the event of an emergency.
The North has described the 12 days of operations taking place in more than 20 locations across South Korea as "extremely adventurous and dangerous military provocations … an undisguised military threat", noting that this year's exercises would last twice as long as last year's.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
FLIGHT DIVERTED AFTER N. KOREA THREATS
Korean Air and Asiana diverted their flights..S. Korean President Lee Myung-bak, left, and N. Korean leader Kim Jong Il
International passenger flights have been diverted after the government of North Korea threatened military action against South Korean airliners in the latest escalation of verbal hostilities between the two enemies.
Both of South Korea’s airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, have diverted flights from the east after a statement on North Korea’s official media which implied a threat of attack against civilian aviation.
It came in a statement denouncing a joint military exercise between South Korea and the US, which Pyongyang accuses of representing preparations for an invasion of the North.“No one knows what military conflicts will be touched off by the reckless war exercises,” said the statement on the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday. “North Korea is, therefore, compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for south Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side and its vicinity, its territorial air and its vicinity above the East Sea of Korea, in particular, while the military exercises are under way.”
The US statement described the statement as “distinctly unhelpful”, and the South Korean government demanded that it be withdrawn. “Threatening civilian airliners' normal operations under international aviation regulations is not only against the international rules but is an act against humanity,” a spokesman for the country’s unification ministry, Kim Ho Nyeon said in Seoul. “The government urges the North to immediately withdraw the military threat against civilian airliners.”
Courtesy: TIMES ONLINE
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