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NKorea to strengthen nuclear deterrent against US "hostility"

NKorea military in control of state spy body: report
North Korea's military now controls a state intelligence body involved in illicit operations to generate funds through money counterfeiting and weapons exports, a report said Sunday. In a recent shakeup, the ruling communist party put a key organisation responsible for overseas espionage under the purview of the military, Yonhap news agency said. The body has been involved in various illegal operations to earn hard currency, including drug trafficking, counterfeiting and weapons exports, it said. Seoul also holds the organisation responsible for the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner which killed all 115 people on board and prompted the United States to put Pyongyang on a list of states sponsoring terrorism. Washington took North Korea off the list last year after the hardline communist country agreed on steps to verify its nuclear disarmament. Military and intelligence officials here declined to comment on the report. Yonhap quoted government sources as saying the reshuffle has enabled the military to secure a major source of hard currency earnings. "The North's military has secured a source of revenue by absorbing a money spinner involved in illicit activities such as counterfeiting of money, drug trafficking and weapons exports," a source told Yonhap. It also expressed concern that North Korea's military may step up espionage operations against South Korea because the shakeup came amid frosty inter-Korean relations. O Kuk-Ryol, vice chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission headed by leader Kim Jong-Il, now controls military espionage operations, Yonhap said. O is a hardline military strongman trusted by Kim, who has pushed an army-first policy prioritising the welfare of troops over civilians. Cross-border ties have worsened since a conservative government took office in Seoul in February 2008 and vowed to link major economic aid to the North's progress in nuclear disarmament.

Clinton calls for 'patience' with North Korea
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States and its negotiating partners may have to "show some patience" before nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea can resume. Clinton, speaking at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said both the United States and Russia want to try to get the North Koreans back to the six-party negotiating framework. "We may have to show some patience before that is achieved, but we agree on the goal that we are aiming for," Clinton said. The United States has been involved in negotiations with the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia aimed at scrapping North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for aid under a landmark six-party agreement signed in 2007. The negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify disarmament before taking a sharp turn for the worse with North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on April 5. The North last week threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and ballistic missile tests unless the United Nations Security Council apologized for condemning and punishing its rocket launch. Pyongyang said it put a peaceful satellite into orbit but the United States, South Korea and Japan said it staged a disguised missile test. When a Russian reporter asked if she was prepared to visit Pyongyang in a bid to find a way out of the deadlock, Clinton replied: "No, I have no plans of going to North Korea." Stephen Bosworth, the special envoy for North Korea policy, was in Beijing Thursday at the start of a tour of Asia and Russia aimed at convincing the reclusive Communist state to resume nuclear disarmament talks.
by Staff Writers
 Seoul (AFP) May 8, 2009
 North Korea vowed Friday to strengthen its nuclear deterrent because of what it called Washington's continuing hostile policy, as a US envoy toured the region to try to restart disarmament talks.

"The study of the policy pursued by the Obama administration for the past 100 days since its emergence made it clear that the US hostile policy toward the DPRK (North Korea) remains unchanged," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The DPRK will bolster its nuclear deterrent as it has already clarified," the spokesman said in a statement on the communist state's official media.

Stephen Bosworth, US special envoy for North Korea, urged Pyongyang to return to the talks and warned of "consequences" if it goes ahead with its threat to stage a second nuclear test.

After the UN Security Council condemned its April 5 rocket launch and tightened sanctions, the North announced it was quitting six-party nuclear disarmament talks and restarting a programme to make weapons-grade plutonium.

Last week it vowed to conduct a second nuclear test as well as ballistic missile tests unless the UN apologises.

The North Friday denied its actions were aimed at pushing Washington to hold direct talks and said nothing would be gained from such an exchange.

"Nothing would be expected from the US, which remains unchanged in its hostility toward its dialogue partner," it said.

The talks group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

Bosworth, who flew from China to South Korea on the second leg of his trip, denied US policy is hostile and said "the door for dialogue is always open".

Speaking after talks with Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan, he urged the North not to stage another atomic test but acknowledged there is "not much" Washington can do to prevent it.

"There will be consequences but we can't control at this stage what North Korea does," said Bosworth, who will go on to Japan and Russia next week but has no current plans to visit Pyongyang.

The envoy said that while Washington was prepared to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang, "the six-party process is at the heart of the effort to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue".

The North appears to have timed its message with Bosworth's visit, said Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

"North Korea is telling Bosworth, 'We won't move the slightest bit as long as the US keeps its current policy. If you want to talk with us, show us some change,'" Yang told Yonhap news agency.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper Thursday reported brisk activity at the site where the North carried out its first atomic test in October 2006.

The North says its April launch put a satellite into orbit for peaceful research purposes. Other nations saw the exercise as a disguised test of a ballistic missile.

The North complained that Obama had called for punishment for the launch and had termed it a challenge and a provocation.

It said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "is repeating such malignant vituperation let loose by the preceding government as slandering the system in the DPRK as 'tyrannical' and 'rogue regime' and the like".

Pyongyang also criticised the Obama administration for going ahead with major joint military exercises with South Korea in March.

In Washington Thursday, Clinton said the US and its negotiating partners may have to "show some patience" before the six-way talks can resume.

Speaking at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, she said both Washington and Moscow want to try to get the North Koreans back to the forum.

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NUKEWARS
Activities intensify at NKorea nuclear, missile sites: report
 Seoul (AFP) May 7, 2009
 North Korea has intensified activities at weapons sites after threatening to stage more nuclear and missile tests in response to UN sanctions, a South Korean newspaper reported Thursday. The Chosun Ilbo said busy movements of vehicles and people had been spotted in the northeastern county of Kilju, where the communist state carried out its first atomic test in October 2006. The North has ... read more






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