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N.Korea vows 'merciless' action to protect border

US will not be "cowed" by NKorea: Obama
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 14, 2009 - US President Barack Obama on Saturday said Washington would not be "cowed" by North Korea's nuclear threats but said the United States is ready to offer the isolated country "a different future." "For decades, North Korea has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons," Obama said in a speech in Tokyo during a two-day visit here, his first trip to Asia. "We will not be cowed by threats, and we will continue to send a clear message through our actions, and not just our words: North Korea's refusal to meet its international obligations will lead only to less security, not more."

Obama urged Pyongyang to return to denuclearisation talks that include the US, Japan, China, the two Koreas and Russia, which it quit in April, before it staged its second nuclear weapons test the following month. But Obama also said that "there is another path that can be taken", if Pyongyang agrees to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. "Working in tandem with our partners, and supported by direct diplomacy, the United States is prepared to offer North Korea a different future," he said.

"Instead of an isolation that has compounded the horrific repression of its own people, North Korea could have a future of international integration. "Instead of gripping poverty, it could have a future of economic opportunity -- where trade, investment and tourism can offer the North Korean people the chance at a better life. "And instead of increasing insecurity, it could have a future of greater security and respect. This respect cannot be earned through belligerence."

Obama also urged North Korea to come clean on the Japanese citizens it abducted in the 1970s and 80s to train its own spies in their language and culture. "Full normalization with its neighbours can only come if Japanese families receive a full accounting of those who have been abducted," he said. The parents of Megumi Yokota, a 13-year old schoolgirl kidnapped decades ago by North Korean agents, were present at Obama's speech. Obama kicked off an eight-day tour in Asia which will take him to Singapore for the APEC summit before he visits China and South Korea.

S.Korea alert after North turns military radar on
Seoul (AFP) Nov 15, 2009 - South Korea went on alert briefly Sunday after a North Korean coastal battery unit turned its radar on for firing amid tensions after a recent naval clash, a report said. YTN television, quoting unnamed military sources, said the North's short activation of the radar sent the South rushing to relocate its 1,500-tonne destroyer out of range in the Yellow Sea. The radar at a battery in Ongjin on the North's southwest coast was powered on for an hour until 2:00 pm (0500 GMT), YTN said, adding South Korea's naval patrol boats were on stand by for emergencies. Seoul's defence ministry refused to confirm the YTN report in detail, but admitted having responded to unspecified movements by the North. "There were some North Korean movements, and we took necessary steps. Everything has returned to normal now," a ministry spokesman told AFP without elaborating.

South Korea's military is already on high alert as the North threatened to take "merciless" action following a naval clash on November 10. The clash in the Yellow Sea -- the first such skirmish in seven years -- left a North Korean patrol boat in flames, according to Seoul officials. Sources quoted by local media said one North Korean sailor was killed and three wounded in the brief but intensive exchange of fire. The South has since sent a destroyer to reinforce its military presence along the sea border, and two extra patrol boats. It has also ordered army, navy and air force commanders in charge of border areas to step up surveillance and respond immediately to any provocation.
by Staff Writers
 Seoul (AFP) Nov 14, 2009
 North Korea vowed Friday to take "merciless" military action to protect its Yellow Sea border with South Korea and warned that Seoul would pay dearly for a naval clash this week.

"Our side reminds your side again that there exists only a demarcation line in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) set by our side, and from this moment on we will take merciless military measures to protect it," its military said in a message to the South's forces.

The North refuses to recognise the sea borderline set by the United Nations after the 1950-53 war and demands that it be drawn further to the south.

The fresh warning, which prompted the United States to urge North Korea to abandon its "bellicose rhetoric," came just five days before President Barack Obama visits Seoul for talks expected to focus on Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

The letter, quoted by Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, renewed demands for an apology for Tuesday's clash, in which Seoul says a North Korean patrol boat was badly damaged. It called for punishment for those responsible.

"The South side will be held responsible for acts aimed at destroying national reconciliation and unity and hampering peace and unification, and it will have to pay dearly," it said.

Seoul says the North's boat crossed the border, ignored five warnings to turn back and then opened direct fire at a South Korean boat. It said South Korean boats returned fire and set the intruder ablaze.

The North says Seoul's ships opened fire while its craft was north of the border, the scene of bloody battles in 1999 and 2002.

The letter repeated claims that South Korea's navy had engineered the clash. "The South mobilised several ships and fired thousands of shots for the rampage in the West Sea," it said.

"It was a pre-planned conspiracy by the South's right-wing and military warmongers, aimed at blocking incipient moves towards reconciliation on the Korean peninsula with a third clash in the West Sea."

A Seoul defence official has said four South Korean patrol boats fired about 5,000 rounds in total from their automated weaponry, 100 times more than the North Korean boat did.

Military sources told local media that one North Korean sailor was killed and three wounded. No South Koreans were hurt.

South Korea has sent a destroyer to reinforce the border area, and two extra patrol boats, but has said it does not want the clash to damage relations.

After months of frosty ties, the North has recently put out peace feelers to Seoul and Washington.

"After analysing the North's message our ministry saw it as the usual rhetoric," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The United States Friday called for calm.

"We would (urge North Korea) to refrain... from that kind of bellicose rhetoric and, in general, avoid any kind of provocative actions that would further inflame the tension in the region," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.

Analysts said they do not expect immediate retaliation given the US agreement to send its special envoy on North Korea for talks in Pyongyang later this year.

"This is a typical soundbite from the North but it's unlikely for it to take any violent measures in the foreseeable future," Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

The US envoy, Stephen Bosworth, will try to persuade the North to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

The North quit the talks in April and later staged a second nuclear test along with a series of missile test-launches. The United Nations tightened sanctions in response.

Leader Kim Jong-Il last month said his country is ready to return to the six-party talks if it first holds discussions with the United States to improve relations.

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NUKEWARS
N.Korea says S.Korean military will pay dearly for sea clash
 Seoul (AFP) Nov 12, 2009
 North Korea accused South Korea's military Thursday of staging a naval clash this week to raise tensions on the peninsula, and said it would pay dearly for the provocation. Each side has blamed the other for Tuesday's exchange of fire near the disputed Yellow Sea border, which came just over a week before a scheduled visit to Seoul by US President Barack Obama. The South has sent one of ... read more






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