North Korea has awarded late leader Kim Jong-Il a new medal, state media said, as Pyongyang gears up to mark 60 years since the Korean War ended. …read more
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N. Korea honours late leader Kim Jong-Il
Tag Archives: Kim Jong Il
Pivotal NKorea question: What is Kim thinking?
Don’t worry, one popular argument goes, we’ve seen this before. Just ignore Pyongyang’s unlikely threats of nuclear holocaust as you would, say, a child throwing a tantrum.
Others, equally well credentialed, say the prospect of another Korean War has never been higher, with a massive, proud North Korean army incensed by propaganda specialists pumping up an already supercharged atmosphere with increasingly violent threats.
Who’s right? That depends on how you read the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un. In his 16 months on the job, Kim’s government has raised fears with unusually aggressive threats against Seoul and Washington, and it’s not clear whether he will pull back, a feat perfected by his late father, considered a master at brinkmanship.
The mystery surrounding Kim Jong Un‘s intentions has some outsiders predicting nightmare scenarios.
“What makes this different from past ‘normal crises’ is our lack of insight into … Kim’s mind,” David Shlapak, a U.S.-Asia security analyst at RAND Corp., said last week in a transcript of comments released by the think tank.
The threats have continued, even amid U.S. and South Korean offers of dialogue. On Tuesday, the North’s military Supreme Command warned that unspecified retaliatory actions would happen at any time.
Figure out Kim, analysts say, and you may determine what’s happening in North Korea.
If he follows the playbook of his father, Kim Jong Il, he will tighten the screws just enough, in an attempt to push his adversaries to negotiations meant to win aid. Grandfather Kim Il Sung, on the other hand, gambled everything early in his leadership on a surprise attack on South Korea that resulted in three years of carnage that had U.S. officials dropping hints about the use nuclear weapons to force a resolution.
Some see the North’s sustained outburst as part of a long-established pattern meant to solidify loyalty at home, while also pushing Seoul and Washington to adopt more Pyongyang-friendly policies. Since the Korean War ended in 1953, they say, the rivals have experienced many cycles of hostility, often punctuated by bloodshed, without things spiraling out of control.
“There are no good reasons to think that Kim Jong Un, North Korea‘s young dictator, would want to commit suicide,” Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, wrote last week in a New York Times op-ed
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NKorea marks founder's birthday, issues more ire
North Korea quietly marked a second day of celebrations for its first leader’s birthday and issued prickly new rhetoric Tuesday threatening retaliation for what it sees as provocations by South Korea and the United States, who have been watching closely for signs the North may go ahead with a suspected medium-range missile launch.
State media said the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army issued an ultimatum demanding an apology from South Korea for “hostile acts” and threatening that unspecified retaliatory actions would happen at any time. The statement followed a day of festivities in North Korea‘s capital that featured art performances, public dances and crowds thronging to giant bronze statues to pay homage to the late leader Kim Il Sung.
The angry ultimatum, relayed through the Korean Central News Agency, was sparked by a small protest in downtown Seoul, where effigies of Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, late leader Kim Jong Il, were burned. Such protests are not unusual in South Korea and this one was likely more of a pretext for the North to react to calls that it join in dialogue with its neighbors than an actual cause for retaliation.
The North’s statement said it would refuse any offers of talks with the South until it apologized for the “monstrous criminal act.” North Korea often denounces such protests, but rarely in the name of the Supreme Command, which is headed by Kim Il Sung‘s grandson and North Korea‘s new leader, Kim Jong Un.
“If the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show the compatriots their will to stop all these acts in practice,” the statement said, referring to North Korea‘s official name.
South Korea‘s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it had received no such ultimatum, noting that there is no communications line between the two Koreas.
Pyongyang launched a rocket ahead of the last anniversary of Kim Il Sung‘s birth, which was the centennial, but the holiday this year has been much more low-key, with Pyongyang residents gathering in performance halls and plazas and taking advantage of subsidized treats, like shaved ice and peanuts, despite unseasonably cold weather.
The calm in Pyongyang has been a striking contrast to the steady flow of threats North Korea has issued over ongoing military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Though the maneuvers, called Foal Eagle, are held regularly, North Korea was particularly
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/gvTRSimTeRY/
North Koreans mark major national holiday amid missile launch fears
Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets Monday to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung.
Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the spring chill as residents of the isolated, impoverished nation began observing a three-day holiday.
There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspaper headlines speculating about an imminent missile launch and detailing the international diplomacy under way to try to rein Pyongyang in, including a swing through the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to try to tamp down emotions and coordinate Washington’s response with Beijing, North Korea‘s most important ally.
Foreign governments have been struggling to assess how seriously to take North Korea‘s recent torrent of rhetoric — including warnings of possible nuclear war — as it expresses its anger over continuing U.S.-South Korea military maneuvers just across the border. Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korean officials, fresh off an underground nuclear test in February, are ready to launch a medium-range missile.
North Korea‘s own media gave little indication Monday of how high the tensions are.
The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers’ Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong Un‘s overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the “robber-like U.S. imperalists.”
Kim Jong Un‘s renovation of the memorial palace that once served as his grandfather’s presidential offices was opened to the public on Monday, the vast cement plaza replaced by fountains, park benches, trellises and tulips. Stretches of green lawn were marked by small signs indicating which businesses — including the Foreign Trade Bank recently added to a U.S. Treasury blacklist — and government agencies donated funds to help pay for the landscaping.
Braving the cold, gray weather, people lined up in droves to lay bouquets of fake flowers at the bronze statues of Kim and his son, late leader Kim Jong Il, in downtown Pyongyang, as they do for every major holiday in the highly militarized country, where loyalty to the Kims and to the state are drummed in citizens from an early age. They queued at roadside snack stands for rations of peanuts, a holiday tradition. Cheers and screams from a soccer match filled the air.
“Although the situation is tense, people have got bright faces and are very happy,” said Han Kyong Sim, a drink stand worker.
Monday marked the official start of the new year according to North Korea‘s “juche” calendar, which begins with the day of Kim Il Sung‘s birth in 1912. But unlike last year, the centennial of his birthday, there are no big parades in store this week, and North Koreans were planning to use
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North Korea delivers new round of war rhetoric, claims it has 'powerful striking means'
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
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North Korea urges foreigners to vacate South Korea
Scores of North Koreans of all ages planted trees as part of a forestation campaign — armed with shovels, not guns. In the evening, women in traditional dress danced in the plazas to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong Il‘s appointment to a key defense post.
Despite another round of warnings from their leaders of impending nuclear war, there was no sense of panic in the capital on Tuesday.
Chu Kang Jin, a Pyongyang resident, said everything is calm in the city.
“Everyone, including me, is determined to turn out as one to fight for national reunification … if the enemies spark a war,” he added, using nationalist rhetoric common among many North Koreans when speaking to the media.
The North’s latest warning, issued by its Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, urged foreign companies and tourists to leave South Korea.
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war due to the evermore undisguised hostile actions of the United States and the South Korean puppet warmongers and their moves for a war against” North Korea, the committee said in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday.
There was no sign of an exodus of foreign companies or tourists from South Korea.
White House spokesman Jay Carney called the statement “more unhelpful rhetoric.”
“It is unhelpful, it is concerning, it is provocative,” he said.
The warning appeared to be an attempt to scare foreigners into pressing their governments to pressure Washington and Seoul to act to avert a conflict.
Analysts see a direct attack on Seoul as extremely unlikely, and there are no overt signs that North Korea‘s army is readying for war, let alone a nuclear one.
North Korea has been girding for a showdown with the U.S. and South Korea, its wartime foes, for months. The Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically at war.
In December, North Korea launched a satellite into space on a rocket that Washington and others called a cover for …read more
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Video: Dennis “The Worm” Rodman Has A New Dictator Friend
By Daniel Noe
Guess what? Dennis “The Worm” Rodman recently visited North Korea, where he made friends with communist dictator Kim Jong Un. Did they play basketball? Did they discuss nuclear proliferation? Find out on this new Zo music video.
South Korea reportedly confirms Kim Jong Un's wife gives birth
There’s a new Kim in town.
South Korea ended months of speculation by verifying that the wife of North Korea‘s dynastic dictator Kim Jong Un secretly gave birth late last year. The newborn, whose gender is not known, could become the fourth-generation to lead the communist dictatorship but Pyongyang watchers believe the baby is most likely a girl.
“If it was a boy, [the North Koreans] would have made an announcement,” Michael Madden, editor of the online newsletter North Korea Leadership Watch, told the Washington Free Beacon.
Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, was rumored to be pregnant after official photos showed what intelligence analysts said appeared to be a baby bump. She is widely seen as a rising force in the Pyongyang leadership hierarchy and believed to have a strong influence on her husband, who inherited the reins when his father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011 after a 17-year run.
The birth of the latest Kim is considered significant because the communist regime in Pyongyang has evolved from a Soviet-installed Marxist-Leninist regime in the 1950s to an Asian family dynasty where the ruling communist Workers Party shares power with a powerful military clique.
Kim Jong Un, who last week hung out with guest and former NBA star Dennis Rodman, has ratcheted up the saber-rattling his father was known for, with multiple tests of nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as the release of several provocative videos depicting the U.S. under attack. Rodman, who went to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters and an HBO camera crew, raved about the dictator, who lives in lavish luxury while most of the people in his nation are starving.
On Sunday, Rodman told ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos that the diminutive dictator who recently threatened Washington with “miserable destruction” wants President Obama to call him.
“He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me,” Rodman told the network.
Although Rodman‘s resume is heavy on rebounds and reality TV and light on diplomacy, the mere fact that he spent time with Kim Jong Un makes him unique in the west.
“There is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary,” Col. Steve Ganyard, former deputy assistant secretary of state, told ABC.
Rodman did not mention Ri, who is believed to be a singer who has broken tradition by appearing in public in short skirts with expensive jewelry. Wives of Kim Johng Un‘s father and grandfather were rarely seen in public.
Ri is believed to be in her early 20s. Defectors say she was trained as a singer and met the future leader in 2010. Kim placed her in his favorite band, the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, with whom she performed in late 2010 before then-leader Kim Jong-Il.
Dennis Rodman North Korea Visit: Ex-Bulls Star Calls Kim Jong-un A ‘Really Awesome’ Guy
By The Huffington Post News Editors
PYONGYANG, North Korea — Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an “awesome guy” and said his father and grandfather were “great leaders” – an assessment that got short shrift from the U.S. government.
Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim since he inherited power from father Kim Jong Il in 2011, watched a basketball game with the authoritarian leader Thursday and later drank and dined on sushi with him.
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Leaving NKorea, Rodman calls Kims 'great leaders'
Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman has left North Korea after his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy. At the airport, he called leader Kim Jong Un an “awesome guy” and said his father and grandfather were “great leaders.”
Rodman is the highest-profile American to meet Kim since the authoritarian leader inherited power from his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011. Kim and Rodman watched a basketball game Thursday and later drank and dined on sushi together.
At Pyongyang’s Sunan airport on Friday, Rodman said it was “amazing” that Kim “was so honest.” He added that Kim Jong Il and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung “were great leaders.”
Rodman’s visit began Monday and took place amid tension between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago.
NKorea brandishing nukes to get US to talk peace
The way North Korea sees it, only bigger weapons and more threatening provocations will force Washington to come to the table to discuss what Pyongyang says it really wants: peace.
It’s no coincidence that North Korea‘s third underground nuclear test — and by all indications so far its most powerful yet — took place Tuesday on the eve of President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address.
As perplexing as the tactic may seem to the outside world, it serves as an attention-getting reminder to the world that North Korea may be poor but has the power to upset regional security and stability.
And the response to its latest provocation was immediate.
“The danger posed by North Korea‘s threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community,” Obama said in a statement hours after the test. “The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies.” The United Nations, Japan and South Korea also responded with predictable anger. Even China, North Korea‘s staunchest ally, summoned the North Korean ambassador to the Foreign Ministry for a rare dressing down.
All this puts young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his circle of advisers right where they want to be: at the center of controversy and the focus of foreign policy.
A year into his nascent leadership, he is referring to his father’s playbook to try forcing a change on North Korea policy in capital cities across the region — mostly notably in the U.S.
The intent in Pyongyang is to get Washington to treat North Korea like an equal, a fellow nuclear power. The aim of the nuclear and missile tests is not to go to war with the United States — notwithstanding its often belligerent statements — but to force Washington to respect its sovereignty and military clout.
During his 17-year rule, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il poured scarce resources into Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs to use as bargaining chips in negotiations with Washington, Seoul and Tokyo. At the same time, he sought to build unity at home by pitching North Korea‘s defiance as a matter of national pride as well as military defense.
North Korea has long cited the U.S. …read more
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North Korea apparently conducts third atomic test
North Korea apparently conducted a widely anticipated nuclear test Tuesday, strongly indicated by an “explosion-like” earthquake that monitoring agencies around the globe said appeared to be unnatural.
There was no confirmation from Pyongyang that it had conducted the underground test, which it has been threatening for weeks.
Any test would be seen as another big step toward North Korea‘s goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile. It would also be a bold signal from young leader Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.
The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test. Nuclear blasts can create tremors but they are distinct from those caused by natural earthquakes.
A nuclear test would also be a challenge to the U.N. Security Council, which recently punished Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket seen as a covert test of ballistic missile technology. In condemning that December rocket launch and imposing more sanctions on Pyongyang, the council had demanded a stop to future launches and ordered North Korea to respect a ban on nuclear activity — or face “significant action” by the U.N.
A world nuclear test monitoring organization said it detected what it called an “unusual seismic event” in North Korea.
“The event shows clear explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK nuclear tests,” said Tibor Tóth, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. The DPRK refers to North Korea‘s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“If confirmed as a nuclear test, this act would constitute a clear threat to international peace and security, and challenges efforts made to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in particular by ending nuclear testing,” Tóth said.
Kim Min-seok, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman, told reporters that North Korea informed China and the United States of its plans to conduct a nuclear test. It was not clear when Pyongyang told Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. Geological Survey as well as earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake near a site where North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, according to …read more
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South Korea believes North Korea conducted third atomic test
North Korea apparently conducted a widely anticipated nuclear test Tuesday, strongly indicated by an “explosion-like” earthquake that monitoring agencies around the globe said appeared to be unnatural.
There was no confirmation from Pyongyang that it had conducted a test, which it has been threatening for weeks.
Any test would be seen as another big step toward North Korea‘s goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile. It would also be a bold signal from young leader Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.
The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test. Nuclear blasts can create tremors but they are distinct from those caused by natural earthquakes.
A nuclear test would also be a challenge to the U.N. Security Council, which recently punished Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket seen as a covert test of ballistic missile technology. In condemning that December rocket launch and imposing more sanctions on Pyongyang, the council had demanded a stop to future launches and ordered North Korea to respect a ban on nuclear activity — or face “significant action” by the U.N.
A world nuclear test monitoring organization said it detected what it called an “unusual seismic event” in North Korea.
“The event shows clear explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK nuclear tests,” said Tibor TDoth, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. The DPRK refers to North Korea‘s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“If confirmed as a nuclear test, this act would constitute a clear threat to international peace and security, and challenges efforts made to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in particular by ending nuclear testing,” TDoth said.
Kim Min-seok, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman, told reporters that North Korea informed China and the United States of its plans to conduct a nuclear test. It was not clear when Pyongyang told Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. Geological Survey as well as earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake near a site where North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, according to the government-funded Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.
“There is a high possibility that North Korea has conducted a nuclear test,” said Chi Heoncheol, an earthquake specialist at the institute. Chi said a magnitude 3.9 magnitude earthquake and a magnitude 4.5 earthquake were detected in the North’s 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.
South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies put the magnitude of Tuesday’s quake between 4.9 and 5.2.
“We think it is possible it came about as a result of a nuclear test by North Korea from looking at past cases,” Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference Tuesday, noting that they were still gathering information.
“A natural earthquake normally starts with a smaller tremor followed by a larger one. This quake’s strength was the same …read more
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Gallery: Kim Jong Il
Holidays, politics seen as clues on NKorean timing
Without confirmation of when North Korea might carry out its vow to conduct its third nuclear test, the building suspense has prompted outsiders to look at dates Pyongyang has chosen for past atomic tests and rocket and missile launches.
Dates and numbers are important to North Korea‘s government, and Pyongyang has often used what Washington calls “provocative acts” to send unsubtle messages to its main enemies — Washington and Seoul — by staging them around U.S. holidays and important political events in South Korea. They have also used them to give a nationalistic boost to North Korean citizens, favoring significant milestones of the state, party and ruling Kim family.
Here’s a look at the “meaningful dates” North Korea has selected in the past for past tests and launches, as well as future events on which Pyongyang might choose to conduct a test:
U.S. HOLIDAYS AND POLITICAL EVENTS:
Both previous nuclear tests were conducted as Americans celebrated U.S. holidays: Oct. 9, 2006, was Columbus Day; May 25, 2009, was Memorial Day.
North Korea also conducted missile tests during Independence Day celebrations in the United States on July 4, 2006. And just a few months after Obama‘s first inauguration in 2009, North Korea launched a long-range rocket.
Some speculate that Pyongyang might choose the celebration of Washington’s Birthday on Feb. 18, a federal holiday in the U.S., to carry out its atomic threat. South Korea‘s foreign minister suggested President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address on Feb. 12 could be another possible test date.
SOUTH KOREAN POLITICAL EVENTS:
North Korea has used past inaugurations and elections in archrival Seoul to test its missiles and launch rockets. South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated Feb. 25.
Last year’s successful Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch, which was condemned by the U.N. as a cover for a banned missile test, came just a week before South Koreans went to the polls to choose a new president.
North Korea fired a short-range missile on the eve of former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun’s 2003 inauguration. Days before, a North Korean jet also intruded into South Korean airspace over the Yellow Sea, turning back as warplanes in South Korea scrambled.
In 1998, six months after liberal South Korean President Kim Dae-jung took office, North Korea launched what it said was a rocket carrying a satellite.
NORTH KOREAN MILESTONES:
A failed North Korean rocket test last year fell on April 12, just days before the April 15 celebration of the centennial of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung.
The 2006 nuclear test also came a day before the 61st anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.
North Korea has repeatedly sought to link the legacy of late leader Kim Jong Il — Kim Il Sung‘s son and the father of current leader Kim Jong Un — to the development of its nuclear program. His birthday falls on Feb. 16. Two days before that, Feb. 14, is the anniversary of Kim Jong Il being posthumously named Generalissimo.
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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
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North Korean leader vows to move ahead with nuclear test
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened top security and foreign affairs officials and ordered them to take “substantial and high-profile important state measures,” state media said Sunday, indicating that he plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.
The meeting of top officials led by Kim makes clear that he backs Pyongyang’s defiant stance in protest of U.N. Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.
Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea‘s Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council, including North Korea ally China, punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the regime to refrain from a nuclear test — or face “significant action.”
North Korea responded by rejecting the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful civilian space program.
It also warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as U.S. hostility. A rare statement was issued Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.
Kim’s order for strong action and the recent series of strong statements indicate he intends to conduct a nuclear test in the near future to show “he is a young yet powerful leader both domestically and internationally,” said Chin Hee-gwan, a North Korea expert at South Korea‘s Inje University.
North Korea cites a U.S. military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The two countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S.-led U.N. Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, and Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country’s nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.
However, it is not known whether North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the United States. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
South Korean defense officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.
Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that over the past month, roads have been kept clear of snow and that North Koreans may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be detonated.
Analysis of the images of the Punggye-ri site was provided Friday to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Kim could order a nuclear test ahead of the Feb. 16th birthday of his late father and former leader Kim Jong Il to “create a festive mood,” Chin predicted. Kim Jong Il died at age 69 in December 2011.
The U.S., South Korea and other countries have warned North Korea not to go ahead with a nuclear test, saying that would only deepen the country’s international isolation.
After meeting with Chinese officials Friday, U.S. envoy for North Korea Glyn Davies said a nuclear test would set back efforts to restart regional talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament.
North Korea has accused the U.S. and South Korea of leading the push for the U.N. Security Council resolution.
Sunday’s KCNA dispatch said the U.N. punishment indicates U.S. hostility toward North Korea has reached its highest point. North Korea also warned South Korea on Friday of “strong physical countermeasures” if Seoul takes part in the U.N. sanctions.
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Satellite images reveal North Korea ready for nuclear test
North Korea could be almost ready to carry out its threat to conduct a nuclear test, a U.S. research institute said, pointing to recent satellite photos.
The images of the Punggye-ri site where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009 reveal that over the past month roads have been kept clear of snow and that North Koreans may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be detonated.
But it remains difficult to discern North Korea‘s true intentions as a test would be conducted underground.
The analysis was provided Friday to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website of U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The latest image was taken Wednesday.
North Korea‘s powerful National Defense Commission declared its plans Thursday after the U.N. Security Council tightened sanctions in response to a December long-range rocket launch. It described it as part of a “new phase” of combat with the United States, which retains 28,000 troops in South Korea and which it blames for leading the U.N. bid to punish Pyongyang.
The North said a nuclear test was part of “upcoming” action but did not say exactly when or where it would take place.
38 North concludes that the Punggye-ri site, in the country’s northeast, “appears to continue to be at a state of readiness that would allow the North to move forward with a test in a few weeks or less once the leadership in Pyongyang gives the order.”
South Korean media have cited intelligence officials as saying technical preparations appear complete and the North could be ready to test within days of making a decision to do so.
U.S. officials confirmed Friday that the U.S. has seen some trucks moving around the site. One official said the U.S. is not ruling out that the test could happen in the near future.
But the officials cautioned that, as in previous tests, because it would be done underground, the U.S. may not know much before it actually happens. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.
In 2006, North Korea detonated a nuclear device just six days after it announced its plans to do so, and in 2009, 26 days after the announcement. Both tests came weeks after the U.N. Security Council had condemned it for long-range rocket launches.
“While the test site appears to continue to be at a high state of readiness, it’s anyone’s guess when a detonation might occur. The North Koreans may do it tomorrow, some other day or they may decide to wait until a meaningful date like Kim Jong Il‘s birthday on February 16th,” said Joel Wit, a former U.S. State Department official and the editor of 38 North.
Anniversaries related to members of North Korea‘s ruling dynasty, such as former leader Kim Jong Il who died in December 2011, are marked with great fanfare in the authoritarian nation.
In its assessment of the preparations at Punggye-ri, 38 North noted that there was considerable snowfall there in November 2012. It said subsequent clearing operations as well as tracks in the snow in the remote area reveal activity at buildings and on roads near the possible test tunnel.
A satellite image taken Jan. 4 shows 30 or more personnel, possibly soldiers or security guards, in formation in the yard of the main administrative buildings at the site.
A Dec. 24 image shows a pile of material in the same yard. Its purpose is uncertain but it could be intended for sealing the tunnel. By the time of Wednesday’s photo, the pile has shrunk, which could indicate operations have begun to seal the tunnel, according to the analysis.
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Absent but omnipresent, Chavez a powerful symbol
Evita Peron. Che Guevara … and now, Hugo Chavez?
While Venezuela‘s sick president recuperates from surgery in Cuba, in Venezuela he is alive and well — at least in spirit.
There he is gazing from huge murals lining the streets of Caracas, on T-shirts sported by his followers, on television booming “I am a nation!”
The cult of personality that Chavez long nurtured has been flourishing like never before as he confronts an increasingly difficult struggle against the mysterious cancer that afflicts him.
Leftover campaign posters from his last election in October still hang from windows and above doorways in the slums, while his supporters’ devotion has intensified into a fervor that borders on deification.
One woman at a pro-government demonstration on Wednesday held a portrait photo of Chavez next to an image of Jesus. New murals showing only the president’s eyes have appeared on city walls along with a new slogan, “I am Chavez.”
The iconic eyes-only design sends a message that he is always watching and still with his adoring constituents. Many credit him with easing their poverty and expanding public services. To them, it does not matter that Venezuela suffers from 20 percent inflation, that the oil-producing nation is often short on cooking oil and sugar, that it has one of the world’s highest murder rates, that the president will not divulge the details of his cancer.
“I am Chavez!” his supporters yell at the rallies in his honor. “We’re all Chavez!” the crowds shout in unison.
Filling the void of Chavez’s 6-week absence following a fourth surgery in Cuba, the government has been churning out a steady stream of emotional images, slogans and Chavez sound bites that appear poised to solidify Chavez’s legacy as a messianic savior of the poor.
In newspapers, the government has been running one ad showing a photo of the president superimposed on a mosaic of smiling faces of Venezuelans: Chavez men, Chavez women and Chavez children of all ages.
Juan Pablo Lupi, a Latin American literature scholar, sees parallels with the way Evita Peron became an enduring political symbol in Argentina, and the way “Che” became a revolutionary icon after his death. In the case of Chavez, he said, “this has been very well-staged, all this process of myth-making and appealing to the feelings and religious sentiment of the people. This is something that is quasi-religious.”
Lupi, a Venezuelan associate professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, said he expects Chavismo to go on without Chavez. “The myth is already there, and all this has been very, very well-crafted.”
The connections between Chavez and Jesus are surfacing more often, having begun with Chavez himself praying to God on television for more time, and repeatedly kissing a crucifix.
In one television spot, a beaming Chavez hugs children while a singer croons: “Chavez is pure and noble love.” And for block after block in downtown Caracas, lampposts are festooned with new banners showing a smiling, healthy Chavez with the words “We love you!”
Daisy Castillo, who studies law at a free university established by Chavez, joined Wednesday’s demonstration, and says she, like many other Chavistas, is praying for the president.
“”There has never before been a president like our Comandante Chavez,” she said.
There is plenty of precedent, however, for the ubiquitous presidential imagery elsewhere, with leaders such as Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, the late Kim Jong Il in North Korea — not to mention Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin.
In Venezuela, the relentless omnipresence of a missing leader is a way to reinforce his party, said Juan Carlos Bertorelli, creative director at a marketing company in Caracas that focuses on branding.
“Now that he’s not here physically or in voice at this time, the people who are maintaining the structure of his party,” he said, “are trying to maintain a presence that legitimizes them.”
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Associated Press photographer Fernando Llano contributed to this report.
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Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap
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Launch, sanctions, nukes: NKorea may repeat cycle
North Korea‘s nuclear agitations follow a well-worn route. It starts with a long-range rocket launch. The United Nations punishes the act with sanctions. And Pyongyang responds by conducting a nuclear test.
It happened in 2006, and again in 2009. With the U.N. leveling new sanctions, the world is about to find out whether North Korea‘s young new leader will detonate an atomic bomb, or step away from the path his father laid.
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a resolution, the third of its kind since 2006, condemning a North Korean rocket launch as a violation of banned missile activity. North Korea‘s Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected the move early Wednesday, maintaining that the launch was a peaceful bid to explore space and accusing the U.S. of “hostile” intent in leading the push for punishment.
In the face of what it considers to be a U.S. threat, North Korea “will take steps for physical counteraction to bolster the military capabilities for self-defense, including the nuclear deterrence, both qualitatively and quantitatively,” the ministry warned in a statement.
Analysts say the wording hints at a nuclear test. In 2006 and 2009, North Korea responded to similar Security Council punishment by detonating devices underground, which experts say is a key step in the process of developing an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
“Things are lining up to make a nuclear test likely,” said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst with the International Crisis Group. “There’s a long-term pattern. The logic is to demonstrate your strength.”
But this time, North Korea has a new leader, Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. How he will handle the standoff with the international community remains unclear.
While sending a satellite into space was his father’s dying wish, the young Kim has focused less on defense, saying in a recent speech that “the building of an economic giant” is his country’s most pressing task. He’s also hinted at a desire to make a shift in foreign policy by saying publicly that he is open to reaching out to former foes.
At the same time, Kim has already thrown away one agreement with the United States by going ahead with a rocket launch in April, and further antagonized the international community with the launch that put North Korea‘s first satellite into space last month.
It would be burdensome to order a nuclear test that would risk additional sanctions at a time when Kim wants to revive the economy, said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University. He said that with President Barack Obama starting a second term and a new South Korean government taking office next month, Kim will be watching to see how their foreign policies toward North Korea take shape before making any big moves.
A nuclear test could also strain Pyongyang’s relationship with Beijing. China, North Korea‘s main ally and traditional protector, broke form in agreeing to the binding Security Council resolution and an expansion of sanctions.
The Security Council resolution demands that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons program in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible manner,” and orders the regime to cease rocket launches. The binding resolution orders the freeze of more North Korean assets, including the space agency, and imposes a travel ban on four more officials.
China opposed tougher sanctions, and analysts said it is continuing to protect its ally.
“China is striking a balance here. It wants to punish North Korea for the latest launch and tell it not to undertake a new ballistic missile launch,” said Shen Dingli, a regional security expert and director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University. “But it doesn’t want to put unbearable pressure on Pyongyang.”
There was no indication Wednesday of an imminent nuclear test. However, satellite photos taken last month at North Korea‘s underground nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in the far northeast showed continued activity that suggested a state of readiness even in winter, according to analysis by 38 North, a North Korea website affiliated with the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.
Last month’s rocket launch has been celebrated as a success in North Korea, and the scientists involved have been treated like heroes. Kim Jong Un cited the launch in his New Year’s Day speech laying out North Korea‘s main policies and goals for the upcoming year, and banners hailing the launch are posted on buildings across the capital.
Washington and others consider the rocket launches covert tests of ballistic missile technology since satellite launches and long-range missile launches have similar firing mechanisms. At a military parade last April, North Korea showed off what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Though it insists its efforts to launch a satellite are peaceful, North Korea also claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the United States, which stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea. The adversaries fought in the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953 and left the Korean Peninsula divided by the world’s most heavily fortified demilitarized zone.
North Korea has enough weaponized plutonium for about four to eight bombs, according to nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited North Korea‘s nuclear complex in 2010. In 2009, Pyongyang also declared that it would begin enriching uranium, which would give North Korea a second way to make atomic weapons.
For years, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. negotiated with North Korea to offer aid in return for disarmament. North Korea walked away from those talks after U.N. sanctions in 2009.
Later, Pyongyang indicated its readiness to resume discussing disarmament. In February 2012, it negotiated a deal with Washington to place a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests in exchange for food aid.
That deal fell apart when North Korea unsuccessfully launched a long-range rocket in April that it insisted did not constitute a missile test and thus was not a banned activity.
In July, North Korea‘s Foreign Ministry issued a memorandum declaring that it felt forced to “completely re-examine the nuclear issue due to the continued U.S. hostile policy” toward Pyongyang. On Wednesday, the ministry said talks about disarmament are off the table.
It may be a non-nuclear issue that returns North Korea and the U.S. to negotiations.
A U.S. citizen is in North Korean custody after being arrested in the northeastern city of Rason in November, according to state media. Kenneth Bae is accused of committing “hostile” acts against the regime.
Similarly, in 2009, two American journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for committing “crimes against the state.” That August, three months after the nuclear test, former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to negotiate their release, a visit that provided an opening for dialogue between the foes.
Kim Jong Un, like his father, appears to be resorting to nuclear threats to deal with friction from the outside world, Pinkston said.
“It’s more of the same — not that much change in the overall grand strategy and orientation,” he said.
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AP writers Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations, Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s Korea bureau chief at www.twitter.com/newsjean.
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