Mariners and ocean recreationalists in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands will benefit from new high-resolution wave forecasts offered by the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS). The new forecasts provide 7.5 days of predicted wave height, period and direction—updated twice per day. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
North Korea on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.N. sanctions and the end of U.S.-South Korea military drills as conditions for resuming talks meant to defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula.
The statement from the Policy Department of the National Defense Commission, the country’s top governing body, came four days after Pyongyang rejected Seoul’s latest dialogue offer as insincere. The U.S. says it is prepared to talk to the North but Pyongyang must first bring down tensions and honor previous disarmament agreements.
“Dialogue can never go with war actions,” said the statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Before the talks can resume, the statement said the U.S. must also withdraw all nuclear weapons assets from South Korea and the region. It said South Korea, for its part, must stop all anti-North Korea talks, such as its recent announcement blaming Pyongyang for a cyberattack that shut down tens of thousands of computers and servers at South Korean broadcasters and banks last month. North Korea has denied responsibility for the cyberattack.
Later Thursday, South Korea‘s Foreign Ministry dismissed the North’s demand as illogical. “We again strongly urge North Korea to stop this kind of insistence that we cannot totally understand and go down the path of a wise choice,” spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters.
In recent weeks, North Korea has ratcheted up tension on the divided peninsula, threatening to attack the U.S. and South Korea over the military drills and sanctions imposed for its February nuclear test. Pyongyang calls the annual drills a rehearsal for invasion. South Korean officials have also said the North is poised to test-fire a medium-range missile capable of reaching the American territory of Guam.
The ongoing annual drills, called Foal Eagle, are to finish at the end of April. Seoul and Washington officials say they are defensive in nature, and insist they have no intentions of invading the North.
The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. That war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/s9XAYlFfV7I/
The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks if North Korea lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as the saber-rattling government rejected South Korea‘s latest offer of dialogue as a “crafty trick.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea would find “ready partners” in the United States if it began abandoning its nuclear program.
Japan‘s foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, also demanded a resolution to a dispute concerning Japanese citizens abducted decades ago by North Korean officials.
The diplomats seemed to point the way for a possible revival of the six-nation talks that have been suspended for four years.
China long pushed has for the process to resume without conditions. But the U.S. and allies South Korea and Japan fear rewarding North Korea for its belligerence and endless repetition of a cycle of tensions and failed talks that have prolonged the crisis.
Kerry’s message of openness to diplomacy was clear, however unlikely the chances appeared that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s government would meet the American’s conditions.
“I’m not going to be so stuck in the mud that an opportunity to actually get something done is flagrantly wasted because of a kind of predetermined stubbornness,” he told U.S.-based journalists.
“You have to keep your mind open. But fundamentally, the concept is they’re going to have to show some kind of good faith here so we’re not going to around and around in the same-old, same-old,” he said.
Tensions have run high on the Korean Peninsula for months, with North Korea testing a nuclear device and its intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
The reclusive communist state hasn’t stopped there. It has issued almost daily threats that have included possible nuclear strikes against the United States. Analysts and foreign officials say that is still beyond the North Koreans‘ capability.
While many threats have been dismissed as bluster, U.S. and South Korean say they believe the North in the coming days may test a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as Guam, the U.S. territory in the Pacific where the Pentagon is deploying a land-based missile-defense system.
Japan
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/uIvMs4NcgdM/
North Korea on Sunday rebuffed a South Korean proposal to resolve rising tensions through dialogue, dismissing it as a “crafty trick” by its rival.
Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for weeks, with Pyongyang threatening to attack Seoul and Washington for conducting joint military drills and for supporting U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for a February nuclear test.
While the threats are largely seen as rhetoric, U.S. and South Korean officials have said they believe North Korea may test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam.
Pyongyang also took a direct shot at Seoul by pulling more than 50,000 North Korean workers from their joint factory park in the border city of Kaesong and denying South Koreans access to the complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone.
The move has brought the South Korean-run factories to a standstill, threatening a shutdown of the last joint project left between the two Koreas.
Last Thursday, Seoul pressed Pyongyang to discuss restarting operations at the factory park. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has promoted seeking peace with North Korea, a change in policy from the hard-line stance of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
But on Sunday, North Korea‘s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Pyongyang has no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandons its confrontational posture.
South Korea‘s presidential Blue House said North Korea‘s rebuttal of its dialogue offer was “very regrettable.” A Blue House statement urged North Korea to take responsible measures to help relieve difficulties facing South Koreans working at the joint factory park.
The two Koreas technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S. keeps about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression by the North.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/Q11mCnOaH24/
North Korea has denied involvement in a cyberattack that shut down nearly 50,000 computers and servers at South Korean broadcasters and banks last month.
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army issued the denial Saturday through the official Korean Central News Agency. Seoul on Thursday said Pyongyang was responsible for the March 20 computer crash.
The denial comes as tension remains high on the Korean Peninsula. U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch a mid-range missile that could fly as far as Guam.
The North has released a chain of warlike threats since Seoul and Washington began joint military drills last month. Pyongyang is also angry over new U.N. sanctions punishing it for its Feb. 12 nuclear test.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/QQwDnLYgWh0/
By The Huffington Post News Editors
SEOUL, South Korea — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in South Korea on Friday on an unusual diplomatic journey, traveling directly into a region bracing for a possible North Korean missile test and risking that his presence alone could spur Pyongyang into another headline-seeking provocation.
Kerry was kicking off four days of talks in East Asia amid speculation that the North’s unpredictable regime would launch a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. Kerry also planned to visit China and Japan.
From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/john-kerry-south-korea_n_3066504.html
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in South Korea on an unusual diplomatic journey, traveling into a region bracing for a possible North Korean missile test.
His visit comes amid speculation the North’s unpredictable regime will launch a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. Kerry also plans to visit China and Japan.
Kerry is spearheading the effort to shift U.S. power away from Europe and the Middle East and toward Asia. His trip was planned well in advance of North Korea‘s apparent preparations for another missile test.
Kerry’s trip coincides with disclosure of a U.S. intelligence report that concludes, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea could arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead but that the weapon would be unreliable.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/CpCNpE1tsKU/
A U.S. intelligence report concludes that North Korea has advanced its nuclear knowhow to the point that it could arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead, a jarring revelation in the midst of bellicose threats from the unpredictable communist regime.
President Barack Obama urged calm, calling on Pyongyang to end its saber-rattling while sternly warning that he would “take all necessary steps” to protect American citizens.
The new American intelligence analysis, disclosed Thursday at a hearing on Capitol Hill, says the Pentagon’s intelligence wing has “moderate confidence” that North Korea has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles but that the weapon was unreliable.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., read aloud what he said was an unclassified paragraph from a secret Defense Intelligence Agency report that was supplied to some members of Congress. The reading seemed to take Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, by surprise, who said he hadn’t seen the report and declined to answer questions about it.
The DIA conclusion was confirmed by a senior congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Pentagon had not officially released the contents. The aide said the report was produced in March.
Since the beginning of March, the Navy has moved two missile defense ships closer to the coast of the Korean peninsula, in part to protect against a potential missile launch aimed at Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific. The Pentagon also has announced it will place a more advanced land-based missile defense on Guam, and Hagel said in March that he approved installing 14 additional missile interceptors in Alaska to bolster a portion of the missile defense network that is designed to protect all of U.S. territory.
On Thursday, the Pentagon said it had moved a sea-based X-band radar — designed to track warheads in flight — into position in the Pacific.
Notably absent from that unclassified segment of the report was any reference to what the DIA believes is the range of a missile North Korea could arm with a nuclear warhead. Much of its missile arsenal is capable of reaching South Korea and Japan, but Kim has threatened to attack the United States as well.
At the House Armed Services Committee hearing in which he revealed the DIA assessment, Lamborn asked Dempsey, whether he agreed with it. Dempsey said he had
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/z4yuooghpWc/
John Kerry had been secretary of state for little more than a week when North Korea tested a nuclear bomb.
He gathered top aides together for a morning meeting and asked for ideas, prompting a conversation about how to get China to join the United States in putting pressure on Pyongyang, according to a senior administration official who was present. The debate encapsulates America’s struggle to come up with a strategy — based on sticks, carrots or a combination of both — to convince China to police its own backyard.
As Kerry heads to East Asia for his first time as America’s top diplomat, some progress has been made in convincing Beijing, North Korea‘s biggest benefactor, to start getting tough with its neighbor. The question is whether it will make a difference.
North Korea‘s government agency said Thursday that it has “powerful striking means” on standby for a launch, amid speculation in Seoul and Washington that North Korea will test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. It was the latest warning from the North, which launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted an underground nuclear test in February.
For years, Washington has been putting its hopes in Beijing to rein in the provocative behavior and combative rhetoric from North Korea. China has more leverage over the North than any other country, having massively boosted trade ties with the isolated regime in recent years and maintaining close military relations.
But the U.S. has been frustrated by the reaction from a government that in many ways has different priorities. China, analysts and officials often say, fears the implosion of North Korea‘s impoverished state and the regional instability that would cause far more immediate damage than the North’s nuclear proliferation and missile program. And China remains wary of any enhanced U.S. involvement in its backyard.
“If anyone has real leverage over the North Koreans, it is China,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress Thursday. “And the indications that we have are that China is itself rather frustrated with the behavior and the belligerent rhetoric of … Kim Jong Un.”
China‘s role in containing North Korea is expected to be front and center when Kerry arrives in Seoul on Friday. He then travels to Beijing and Tokyo.
At a meeting Wednesday in London, Kerry
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/gGc3zkDlRvo/
North Korea delivered a fresh round of rhetoric Thursday with claims it had “powerful striking means” on standby for a launch, while Seoul and Washington speculated that the country is preparing to test a medium-range missile during upcoming national celebrations.
On the streets of Pyongyang, meanwhile, North Koreans celebrated the anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un‘s appointment to the country’s top party post — one in a slew of titles collected a year ago in the months after father Kim Jong Il‘s death.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a nonmilitary agency that deals with relations with South Korea, didn’t elaborate on its warning of a strike. The statement is the latest in a torrent of warlike threats seen outside Pyongyang as an effort to raise fears and pressure Seoul and Washington into changing their North Korea policy.
Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity, and mark a major escalation in Pyongyang’s standoff with neighboring nations and the U.S.
North Korea already has been punished in recent months for launching a long-range rocket in December and conducting an underground nuclear test in February.
Analysts do not believe North Korea will stage an attack similar to the one that started the Korean War in 1950. But there are concerns that the animosity could spark a skirmish that could escalate into a serious conflict.
“North Korea has been, with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions … skating very close to a dangerous line,” U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Washington on Wednesday. “Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation.”
The missile that officials believe Pyongyang is readying has been dubbed the “Musudan” by foreign experts after the northeastern village where North Korea has a launch pad. The missile has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles) and is designed to reach U.S. military installments in Guam and Japan, experts say.
Bracing for a launch, officials said could take place at any time, Seoul deployed three naval destroyers, an early warning surveillance aircraft and a land-based radar system, a Defense Ministry official said in Seoul, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department rules. Japan deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors around Tokyo.
But officials in Seoul played down security fears, noting that no foreign government has evacuated its citizens from either Korean capital.
“North Korea has continuously issued provocative threats and made efforts to raise tension on the Korean peninsula … but the current situation is being managed safely and our and foreign governments have been calmly responding,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters Thursday.
The war talk is seen as a way for North Korea to draw attention to the precariousness of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and to boost the military credentials of young leader Kim Jong Un.
The Korean War ended in
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/vyHIJWAEkc8/
Ecologists and students from Rice University and the University of Guam will begin an ambitious four-year study this summer to examine how the loss of birds on Guam may be thinning the island’s forests as fewer seeds are spread into open gaps. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
It’s easy to write off North Korean threats to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile as bluster: it has never demonstrated the capability to deploy a missile that could reach the Pacific island of Guam let alone the mainland U.S.
But what about Japan?
Though it remains a highly unlikely scenario, Japanese officials have long feared that if North Korea ever decides to play its nuclear card it has not only the means but several potential motives for launching an attack on Tokyo or major U.S. military installations on Japan‘s main island. And while a conventional missile attack is far more likely, Tokyo is taking North Korea‘s nuclear rhetoric seriously.
On Monday, amid reports North Korea is preparing a missile launch or another nuclear test, Japanese officials said they have stepped up measures to ensure the nation’s safety. Japanese media reported over the weekend that the defense minister has put destroyers with missile interception systems on alert to shoot down any missile or missile debris that appears to be headed for Japanese territory.
“We are doing all we can to protect the safety of our nation,” said chief Cabinet spokesman Yoshihide Suga, though he and defense ministry officials refused to confirm the reports about the naval alert, saying they do not want to “show their cards” to North Korea.
North Korea, meanwhile, issued a new threat against Japan.
“We once again warn Japan against blindly toeing the U.S. policy,” said an editorial Monday in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of its ruling party. “It will have to pay a dear price for its imprudent behavior.”
Following North Korea‘s third nuclear test in February, Japanese experts have increasingly voiced concerns that North Korea may already be able to hit — or at least target — U.S. bases and major population centers with nuclear warheads loaded onto its medium-range Rodong missiles.
“The threat level has jumped” following the nuclear test, said Narushige Michishita, a former Ministry of Defense official and director of the Security and International Studies Program at Tokyo‘s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
Unlike North Korea‘s still-under-construction intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, program, its arsenal of about 300 deployed Rodong missiles has been flight tested and is thought to have a range of about 1,300 kilometers …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats’ safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North’s clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.
North Korea‘s warning last week followed weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills, and for their support of U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang’s Feb. 12 nuclear test. Many nations are deciding what to do about the notice, which said their diplomats’ safety in Pyongyang cannot be guaranteed beginning this Wednesday.
Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with “considerable range” to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch.
His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
Citing North Korea‘s suggestion that diplomats leave the country, South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s national security director said Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.
During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks — which also include China, Russia and Japan — that it abandoned in 2009.
The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea have not yet announced whether they will evacuate their staffs.
Indonesia‘s foreign affairs ministry said it was considering a plan to evacuate its diplomats. A statement released by the ministry on Saturday said that its embassy in Pyongyang has been preparing a contingency plan to anticipate the worst-case scenario, and that the Indonesian foreign minister is communicating with the staff there to monitor the situation.
India also said it was monitoring events. “We have been informed about it,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India‘s external affairs ministry. “We are in constant touch with our embassy and are monitoring the situation. We will carefully consider all aspects and decide well in time.”
Seoul and Washington, which lack diplomatic relations with the North, are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.
Kim Jang-soo said the North would face “severalfold damages” for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo had planned to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
South Korea‘s top military officer has put off a visit to Washington because of escalating tensions with North Korea that have also compelled more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday.
South Korea‘s military is on heightened alert following North Korean threats to launch attacks on the U.S. and South Korea and produce more fuel for atomic weapons. Pyongyang is angry over ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills and U.N. sanctions issued over North Korea‘s latest nuclear test.
South Korea‘s defense minister said last week that North Korea has moved at least one missile with a “considerable range” to its east coast, and speculated that the North may be planning to test it. The missile could possibly be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
The tensions led South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo to cancel his plan to meet with U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks.
The allies have agreed to reschedule the meeting because Jung couldn’t be away from South Korea for several days at a time when North Korea is intensifying its rhetoric, said a South Korean Joint Chiefs spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press Saturday.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.
Previously, the U.S. had followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.
In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy’s missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.
Washington is taking the North Korean threats seriously, though U.S. leaders say they have seen no signs that the North is preparing for a large-scale attack.
North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts, say the North hasn’t achieved technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.
North Korea also raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
South Korea‘s top military officer has put off a visit to Washington because of escalating tensions with North Korea that have also compelled more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday.
South Korea‘s military is on heightened alert following North Korean threats to launch attacks on the U.S. and South Korea and produce more fuel for atomic weapons. Pyongyang is angry over ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills and U.N. sanctions issued over North Korea‘s latest nuclear test.
South Korea‘s defense minister said last week that North Korea has moved at least one missile with a “considerable range” to its east coast, and speculated that the North may be planning to test it. The missile could possibly be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
The tensions led South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo to cancel his plan to meet with U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks.
The allies have agreed to reschedule the meeting because Jung couldn’t be away from South Korea for several days at a time when North Korea is intensifying its rhetoric, said a South Korean Joint Chiefs spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press Saturday.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.
Previously, the U.S. had followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.
In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy’s missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
HAGATNA, Guam — C.J. Urquico has lived on Guam for 19 years so he’s used to a military backdrop to everyday life. Navy ships visit, Air Force jets fly overhead and war games are played off the Pacific island’s shores.
There soon will be another military element in this U.S. territory – a defense system will be installed to shoot down incoming missiles and warheads. Its deployment comes amid intensifying threats from North Korea, which recently listed Guam among its targets for a nuclear attack on the United States.
Read More…
More on North Korea
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Japan and the U.S. said Friday they have agreed on plans for returning to Japan land near Kadena Air Base on the southern island of Okinawa that is now used by U.S. troops, in an effort to balance local concerns with support for the countries’ military alliance.
A statement issued by both sides characterized the plan as a realignment and consolidation of U.S. forces in Okinawa.
“Recognizing the strong desires of Okinawa residents, this consolidation plan is to be implemented as soon as possible while ensuring operational capability, including training capability, throughout the process,” it said.
Okinawa was invaded by U.S. forces in World War II and has had an American military presence ever since. Tensions over land use, crimes committed by military personnel and disruptions by military flights on the heavily populated, semi-tropical island have been building over the years.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos announced the agreement Friday.
“This is a very important event for reducing the impact of our bases in Okinawa, but at the same time, maintaining the long- term sustainability of our bases and our ability to achieve peace and security in the region and the defense of Japan,” Roos said.
The plans call for eventually returning more than 570 hectares (1,400 acres) of land near Kadena. The various facilities and land are being returned to Japan as replacement locations become available and troops are transferred out of Japan.
It also includes separate timetables and arrangements for relocating the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in the Okinawan city of Ginowan beginning in fiscal 2022. The original plan for relocating Futenma to another location, Nago, by 2014 was put off due to local opposition.
An earlier agreement called for setting detailed plans by late 2012 for returning facilities and land to Okinawa. But progress was slowed by funding cuts that delayed relocating troops and facilities to Guam and families of U.S. service members to South Korea.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
The threat of a nuclear attack on Guam by North Korea is a hot topic at barbecues but residents of the remote Pacific island aren’t too worried about an impending attack.
The U.S. territory is already home to Air Force and Naval bases, but the U.S. is sending a missile defense system to further protect the island in response to increasingly hostile rhetoric from North Korea.
Despite the threats, several Guam residents say they haven’t changed how they’ve lived their lives.
Payless Supermarket General Manager Michael Benito says he hasn’t seen a rush to stockpile canned goods.
Local businessman Leonard Calvo says that he is skeptical of North Korea‘s capabilities.
Several Guam residents say that they are confident that the U.S. military is strong enough to guard against any offense.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
The United States announces it will send a missile defense system to Guam to defend the Pacific Ocean island from North Korea, as the US military adjusts to what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called a ‘real and clear danger’ from Pyongyang. Mana Rabi …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Space.com
The interceptor system will help defend Guam against a possible North Korean missile attack. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Space.com
