North Korea artillery fire hits South island

[General Veers]

North Korea artillery fire hits South island

SEOUL | Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:22am EST

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island, setting buildings on fire and prompting a return fire by the South, Seoul's military and media reports said. Seoul's YTN television quoted a witness as saying 60 to 70 houses were on fire after the shelling. The military confirmed the exchange of firing, without providing more details.

(Reporting by Seoul bureau; Writing by Yoo Choonsik; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

 

[General Veers]

South Koreans hurt, evacuated after North Korea firing


South Koreans hurt, evacuated after North Korea firing

SEOUL | Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:37am EST

SEOUL (Reuters) - Several South Korean civilians and soldiers were wounded and many others were being evacuated to bunkers on an island hit by dozens of artillery shells fired by North Korea on Tuesday, a Seoul television reported. YTN cable news channel also quoted an witness as saying power failure was reported on Yeonpyeong island near the border with the North after the firing, while pictures from the channel showed at least four plumes of smoke on the island.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Writing by Yoo Choonsik)

 

[Guile]

Why North Korean strike will not trigger world war three


Why North Korean strike will not trigger world war three

Even though the fighting in Korea has all the elements needed to spark off the next world war – weapons of mass destruction, hostile superpowers, and a failing, nuclear-armed regime – it is improbable that apocalypse is around the corner in East Asia.

By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 3:43PM GMT 23 Nov 2010

South Korea is one of the engines of Asian prosperity, on which the world's hopes of an early economic recovery rest on peace in the region. By attacking Yeonpyeong island, a target of no strategic value, North Korea's dysfunctional regime is telling the world how much pain it could inflict if it isn't bribed to behave itself. It hopes that its sabre-rattling will force talks where the West will agree to a substantial aid package in return for a guarantee that Pyonyang will not produce further nuclear weapons. Both sides want wealth, not world war three.

Like other weak but nuclear-armed states, North Korea believes it can use limited conventional-weapons aggression to secure its objectives, since its weapons guarantee it protection from large-scale retaliation that could threaten its existence. The first sign of North Korea's post-nuclear strategy emerged when it sank the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan in March.

Nuclear deterrence guru Glenn Snyder described the phenomenon, of which there are several examples, as the "stability-instability paradox". Beijing military hawks fought Russia over the Zhebao island on the Ussuri river in 1969 to strengthen their political position without actually risking a large-scale war that would have destroyed them. Pakistan fought a limited war with India over Kashmir in 1999, a year after both countries tested their nuclear weapons.

The real fear now is that protracted North Korean aggression will push South Korea and Japan to reconsider their long-held taboo on possessing nuclear weapons. Chang Kwan-Il, South Korea's defence minister, said on Monday that it had no immediate plans to request the US to station tactical nuclear missiles on its soil, to bolster the 28,500 troops stationed there. Tuesday's events will obviously change that equation.

The US, aware of hostile Chinese reaction, is unlikely to want to do so. If it refuses, though, its East Asian allies will begin to doubt its willingness to use its nuclear weapons if push comes to shove – and like the UK and France decades ago, go it alone. Both countries' advanced industrial capabilities mean they are, for all practical purposes, a screwdriver's twist away from actually building one.

In February, the US Joint Forces Command admitted both countries "could quickly build nuclear devices if they chose to do so." Korea officially ended its nuclear-weapons programme in 1975, but the International Atomic Energy Agency recently discovered its scientists had continued to work on weapons-production technologies.

Even though memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still inform public opinion in Japan, conservatives have long called for the country to develop nuclear-weapons capabilities. Last year, Shoichi Nakagawa, an influential politician, bluntly said that "it is nuclear that can counteract nuclear."

 

[yellow people]

North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of shells at a South Korean border island, setting buildings ablaze and injuring several people,
Seoul officials and media reports sai.

A resident of the island near the tense Yellow Sea border told YTN by phone that some 50 shells landed and dozens of houses were damaged.

TV footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising from the island. “Houses and mountains are on fire and people are evacuating. You can't see very well because of plumes of smoke," a witness on the island told YTN, “People are frightened to death and shelling continues as we speak," the witness added.


​

 

[yellow people]

South Korea officials said “dozens” of artillery rounds had landed on Yeonpyeong Island at in the Yellow Sea,
50 miles off the South’s northwest coast in an area close a disputed sea border.

F-16 fighter jets were scrambled and South Korean land-based forces returned fire on the North as civilians were evacuated to emergency bunkers.

"We were carrying out naval, air force and army training exercises and they (the North) seem to have opened fire in objection,"
a military official was quoted as saying by YTN.

​

​

 

[yellow people]

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has held an emergency security meeting. A presidential spokesman said "He is now in an underground war room to discuss possible responses with ministers of related agencies and national security advisers... we are closely watching the situation"

The shelling comes days after it emerged that North Korea was pressing ahead with its nuclear programme,
marks a serious further escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

A 2010 satellite image of construction at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear site (C)

The attack comes after nearly two years of deteriorating relations between the two Koreas, which reached a nadir last March
after the sinking of a South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, with the loss of 46 lives.


​

 

[yellow people]

South Korea has since cut off almost all humanitarian aid to the North...

Satellite images show South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island before (2:30 p.m., above) and after (3:30 p.m.) it was attacked by North Korean artillery .

...a near bankrupt-state that has been under tight international sanctions since conducting a second nuclear bomb test in 2009 in defiance of UN agreement.

A North Korean soldier looks through a window at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to a UN truce village building
that sits on the border of the Demilitarized Zone in 2010 .

The North has also been facing a degree of political turmoil this year as their ailing leader Kim Jong-il prepares
the ground for a dynastic succession that will see power being handed to his youngest son, Kim Jong-u.

Picture released November 22, 2010 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (2nd R) and his son Kim Jong-Un (front 2nd L)
visiting the Ryongyon Seaside Fish Farm.


​

 

[Guile]

North Korea's conflict with the South: timeline


North Korea's conflict with the South: timeline

North and South Korea have been involved in a number of skirmishes since the 1950-1953 war, which ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty:

South Korea's Yeonpueong Island is engulfed in thick smoke after North Korean military launches artillery attack Photo: EPA

7:41AM GMT 23 Nov 2010

January 21, 1968: North Korean commandos stage a raid on Seoul's presidential Blue House in an attempt to assassinate President Park Chung-Hee. They are stopped just 800 metres (yards) away. All 32 are killed or captured in subsequent days.

August 15, 1974: North Korean agent fires at Park during a speech. He misses but the shot kills the president's wife. Park continues his speech.

October 9, 1983: The North's agents blow up a landmark in Burma (now Myanmar) just before the visiting South Korean President Chun Hoo-Hwan is set to arrive. Four South Korean cabinet ministers and 16 others are killed.

November 29, 1987: All 115 people on board are killed when a bomb planted by the North's agents explodes on a South Korean airliner.

September 1996: A North Korean submarine lands commandos on the South Korean coast, prompting a huge manhunt. Twenty-four infiltrators are shot dead including 11 by their own hand, one is captured and one unaccounted for.

June 15, 1999: A clash breaks out along the Yellow Sea border, the first naval battle since the Korean War. A North Korean boat with an estimated 20 sailors aboard is sunk.

June 29, 2002: A South Korean ship is sunk and six sailors killed in another Yellow Sea clash, while Seoul is co-hosting the football World Cup. An estimated 13 North Koreans die.

November 10, 2009: Navies of the two sides exchange fire near the Yellow Sea border. Seoul officials say a North Korean patrol boat retreated in flames but its casualties are unknown. No South Koreans are hurt.

March 26, 2010: An unexplained explosion hits the Cheonan, a 1,200-tonne South Korean corvette, near the disputed border and the warship breaks in two. A total of 58 sailors are rescued but 46 die.

May 20, 2010: A report by a multinational investigation team says the Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.

May 24, 2010: South Korea suspends trade with the North and bans its ships from Seoul's waters. The White House says the sanctions are "entirely appropriate" as President Barack Obama orders the US military to work closely with South Korea.

Oct 29, 2010: North and South Korean troops exchange fire across their border, cranking up tensions before the G20 summit of world leaders in Seoul.

Nov 23, 2010: North Korea fires artillery shells onto a South Korean border island, prompting an exchange of fire with southern troops along with casualties and property damage, officials and reports said.

 

[General Veers]

Q+A - What next in the confrontation on the Korean peninsula?


Wednesday November 24, 2010

Q+A - What next in the confrontation on the Korean peninsula?

By Jeremy Laurence

SEOUL (Reuters) - China on Wednesday came under heavy pressure to tame its ally North Korea after the reclusive state attacked South Korea, with the United States trying to cool tension in the economically powerful region.

<table align="right" border="0" width="20%"><tbody><tr><td>

</td></tr><tr><td>Destroyed houses are seen after they were hit by artillery shells fired by North Korea on Yeonpyeong Island November 24, 2010. (REUTERS/Ongjin County/Handout)
</td></tr></tbody></table> Tuesday's artillery attack on a South Korean island killed two soldiers, sent scores of civilians fleeing and sparked a sell off in stock futures and the won in offshore trading. Futures for stocks and bonds have since recovered.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

Tuesday's barrage was the heaviest bombardment on the South since the Korean War ended in 1953. Tensions are running high in the region. But it is extremely unlikely that this marks the start of an escalating conflict that could lead to a major military confrontation between the two Koreas.

For decades, North Korea has followed a strategy of trying to wring concessions from the international community through periodic provocations, carefully calibrated to raise geopolitical tensions without sparking full scale war. Provocations over the past few years include two nuclear tests, several missile tests, and the sinking of a South Korean warship in March which killed 46 sailors.

This latest attack is likely to be in line with this strategy. Rather than heralding further aggressive gestures in coming days that raise the geopolitical temperature, it is likely to be followed by a period of relative calm, or even overtures from Pyongyang for more peace talks. North Korea has no appetite for a major conflict. The South Korean and U.S. militaries are far better equipped than the North's decrepit army which barely has enough fuel to fly its ageing fleet of fighter planes.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has vowed a firm response, but Seoul too has no desire for a serious conflict. While North Korea would certainly lose any war, it would be able to do enormous damage to the South with its vast artillery. South Korea's reaction has been very restrained, just as it was in the aftermath of the sinking of the Cheonan.

WHY NOW?

There are several possible reasons why North Korea's military may have launched Tuesday's artillery barrage. South Korea was holding military drills in the area, and has conceded that it was conducting test-firing exercises. This might have led the North Korean military to genuinely believe it was under attack, and to fire in retaliation.

Pyongyang regards South Korean military exercises with genuine unease, fearing the manoeuvres could be a smokescreen for a real attack. In recent years it has reacted with fury to South Korean drills, particularly when the U.S. military was also involved. Events of the last week suggest North Korea is again trying to provoke the international community into making concessions. It has unveiled major advances with its uranium enrichment programme, giving it a second route to make a nuclear bomb.

Pyongyang's decision to show off its technological advances to Western scientists, coupled with Tuesday's attack, may be a strategy aimed at scaring the South and its allies into easing sanctions or restarting peace and disarmament talks. A final factor that may have played a part in the timing of the incident is that the North has entered a period of leadership transition. At a major ruling party meeting in September, Kim Jong-il appointed his youngest son to key posts, a move seen as formally anointing him as North Korea's next leader.

Kim is widely thought to be in failing health after suffering a stroke in 2008, and this may have led him to speed up succession plans. But his son, Kim Jong-un, is young and has no real support base, and there is always the risk that powerful figures in the military or government decide this is an opportune moment for a power grab. The North's economy is going from bad to worse, another factor that may fuel internal instability and discontent.

Tuesday's incident and the Cheonan attack in March may have been attempts to bolster unity among North Korea's elites by focusing attention on an external enemy, or a bid to bolster Kim Jong-un's credentials in the military. Or they may have been launched by hawkish elements of the military without the knowledge and support of Kim Jong-il.

"With the ongoing leadership transition in North Korea, there have been rumors of discontent within the military, and the current actions may reflect miscommunications or worse within the North's command-and-control structure, or disagreements within the North Korean leadership," geopolitical risk analysis firm Stratfor said in a comment on Tuesday.

HOW HAVE MARKETS REACTED?

Asian shares fell on Wednesday and the euro hovered near a two-month low to the U.S. dollar as regional stocks caught up with a sharp sell-off after the shelling, and investors sought safety in the U.S. currency. South Korean stock and bond futures, however, rose on Wednesday as foreign investors looked for bargains in local assets after the artillery attack on the South led to a panicked sell off on Tuesday.

The won was down around 0.7 percent and shares in both South Korea and neighboring Japan, whose markets were closed on Tuesday, were underperforming the region, reflecting the seriousness of the attacks. The main KOSPI stock index, which closed right before the brunt of Tuesday's selloff, was down 0.7 percent but off its early lows. Food-related stocks and shares of companies that make military equipment were outperforming.

Turnover in the main market with more than three hours to go before the close was 4.7 trillion won, nearly three quarters of the daily average turnover for last month of 6.5 trillion won. The cheapness of Korea's equities, tough and highly competitive industries and the country's current account surplus were draws for foreign and domestic institutional investors, analysts said. Even the diminished threat of capital controls, an unforeseen byproduct of the shelling, was cited by analysts as a reason to buy back Korean assets.

In credit markets, Korean bonds were trading higher, and the 5-year sovereign credit default swaps, basically insurance against default, were at 97/99 basis points compared with Tuesday's widest levels of 107 reached during the New York trading session. South Korean asset markets have grown used to Pyongyang's provocations. They tend to suffer only a brief and modest dip in response to North Korean sabre-rattling, as a few players engage in knee-jerk selling, but prices tend to recover quickly.

Todd Martin, Asia equity strategist with Societe Generale in Hong Kong, said Korea was his pick for second-best performing market next year in Asia next to Japan. However, given heightened sensitivity to risk in global markets, the potential for a sharper sell-off cannot be discounted. In April, when Seoul formally blamed the North for the Cheonan attack, panicky investors dumped South Korean assets. Still, since Tuesday's attack is highly unlikely to escalate into a more serious confrontation, market reaction in coming days will probably be on the upside.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS TO THIS PICTURE?

The biggest risk is that North Korea's leadership transition and economic problems result in the leadership making risky moves that go beyond the provocations of the past and cause events to spiral out of control. With Kim's health uncertain, his son still an unknown quantity, the delicate balance that has kept the peninsula tense but peaceful for decades may be unravelling. While neither side wants war, there is always the risk that misunderstandings or miscalculations lead to unintended conflict.

The other main risk to South Korea is what happens when North Korea's regime eventually collapses. That prospect is regarded with dread by many regional policymakers because of the enormous economic costs a sudden chaotic reunification of the two Koreas would impose on the region. "Any additional risk premium that the market imposes in KRW assets is likely to be embedded more in longer-term yields, which should support a steepening of the IRS curve in spot and forward terms," Nomura said.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing and Andrew Marshall in Singapore; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

 

[General Veers]

U.S. aircraft carrier heads for Korean waters


Wednesday November 24, 2010

U.S. aircraft carrier heads for Korean waters

By Jack Kim and Lee Jae-won

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier headed toward the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, a day after North Korea launched dozens of artillery shells on a South Korean island. <table align="right" border="0" width="20%"><tbody><tr><td>

</td></tr><tr><td>U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Bosworth gets in a car after a statement reading in Beijing, November 24, 2010. (REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic)
</td></tr></tbody></table> The nuclear-powered USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of over 6,000, left a naval base south of Tokyo on Wednesday morning and would join exercises with South Korea from Sunday to the following Wednesday, U.S. officials in Seoul said.

"This exercise is defensive in nature," U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement. "While planned well before yesterday's unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK (South Korea)-U.S. alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."

China came under heavy pressure to rein in North Korea after its reclusive ally fired dozens of artillery shells at the South Korean island, killing two South Korean soldiers and setting houses ablaze in the heaviest attack on its neighbour since the Korean War ended in 1953.

U.S. President Barack Obama, woken up in the early hours to be told of the artillery strike, said he was outraged but declined to speculate on possible U.S. military action. However, in a telephone call with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Obama pressed the North to stop its provocative actions. The U.S.-led U.N. Command said it had asked North Korea for talks to try to reduce tension on the divided peninsula.

"We're in a semi state of war," South Korean coastguard Kim Dong-jin told Reuters in the port city of Incheon where many residents of Yeonpyeong island fled in panic as the bombardment triggered a fire storm. The bombardment nagged at global markets, already unsettled by worries over Ireland's debt problem and looking to invest in less risky markets. But South Korea's markets, after sharp falls, later started to rebound.

"If you look back at the last five years when we've had scares, they were all seen as buying opportunities. The rule among hedge funds and long-only funds is that you let the market sell off and watch for your entry point to get involved," Todd Martin, Asia equity strategist with Societe Generale in Hong Kong, said. Despite the rhetoric, regional powers made clear they were looking for a diplomatic way to calm things down.

South Korea, its armed forces technically superior though about half the size of the North's one-million-plus army, warned of "massive retaliation" if its neighbour attacked again. But it was careful to avoid any immediate threat of retaliation which might spark an escalation of fighting across the Cold War's last frontier. "My house was burnt to the ground," said Cho Soon-ae, 47, who was among 170 or so evacuated from the island of Yeonpyeong on Thursday.

"We've lost everything. I don't even have extra underwear," she said weeping, holding on to her sixth-grade daughter, as she landed at the port of Incheon. South Korea was conducting military drills in the area at the time but said it had not been firing at the North. It later said it would resume those drills once the situation stabilised. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called on China, the impoverished North's only powerful ally, to help rein in the hermit state.

China has long propped up the Pyongyang leadership, worried that a collapse of the North could bring instability to its own borders and also wary of a unified Korea that would be dominated by the United States, the key ally of the South. In a clear prod to Beijing during a visit to the Chinese capital, U.S. North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth said: "We call on all members of the international community to condemn the DPRK's (North Korea's) acts and to make clear that they expect the DPRK to cease all provocations and implement its denuclearisation commitments."

On Tuesday, Obama said he would urge China to tell Pyongyang "there are a set of international rules they must abide by". Beijing said it had agreed with the United States to try to restart talks among regional powers over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. A number of analysts suspect that Tuesday's attack may have been an attempt by North Korean leader Kim jong-il to raise his bargaining position ahead of disarmament talks which he has used in the past to win concessions and aid from the outside world, in particular the United States.

"It's Mr Kim's old game to get some attention and some economic goodies," said Lin Chong-pin, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taipei. Several analysts believe the attacks may also have been driven by domestic politics, with the ailing Kim desperate to give a lift to his youngest son, named as heir apparent to the family dynasty in September but who has little clear support in the military.

(Reporting by Seoul bureau, Michael Martina, Aileen Wang and Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing, Kaori Kaneko and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo, Alister Bull, Paul Eckert, Phil Stewart and Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Ralph Jennings in Taipei; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

 

[General Veers]

North Korea bombardment: two civilian bodies found on island


North Korea bombardment: two civilian bodies found on island

South Korea has found the bodies of two civilians killed in Tuesday's North Korean artillery attack.

By Peter Foster in Beijing 8:47AM GMT 24 Nov 2010

The South Korean Coast Guard found the bodies of two men on a destroyed construction site on the island. They're believed to be in their sixties. The discovery comes a day after a frightening military skirmish between the Koreas ratcheted tensions on the peninsula to new extremes.

It comes as a US aircraft carrier is to deploy to the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea after the two countries agreed to conduct further war games in a show force against North Korea.

The decision to send the nuclear-powered USS Washington comes less than 24 hours after North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing two marines and attracting a wave of international condemnation for what the White House described as an “outrageous act” of provocation.

President Barack Obama and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak agreed to hold the joint military exercises on Sunday following a telephone conversation in which the US reiterated its security guarantees to Seoul. The Yellow Sea exercises, which are controversial and have already been postponed once after objections from China last August, could raise the stakes further on an already-tense Korean peninsula.

A statement from US Forces Korea (USFK) said the exercise had been planned well before the North's "unprovoked artillery attack" but was designed to demonstrate the US' "commitment to regional stability through deterrence". North Korea said it had carried out Tuesday’s bombardment in response to a South Korean live-fire exercise and has threatened further action if the South intrudes “even 0.001 millimetres” across the two countries’ disputed maritime border.

The news of the USS Washington’s deployment, reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, is unlikely to please China which reacted furiously in August to a similar plan, with one Chinese general describing the move as “flagrant provocation.”

As North Korea’s only international ally and important economic donor, China has refused to issue an outright condemnation of Tuesday’s attack, but was coming under increasing pressure from the US and Japan to be more pro-active in helping deal with Pyongyang’s belligerence. Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy on North Korea, left Beijing on Wednesday morning after further talks with his Chinese counterparts which he described as “useful”.

However in a statement before departing, Mr Bosworth made little attempt to hide US differences with China over how to handle North Korea, calling on Beijing to condemn Pyongyang’s actions. “We call on all members of te international community to condemn the DPRK’s acts and to make clear that they expect the DPRK to cease all provocations and implement its denuclearization commitments,” said Mr Bosworth, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.

Japan also publicly echoed the US’s private calls for China to be more forceful in using its potential economic and political leverage to make North Korea adhere to the norms of international behavior. “We should ask China, which has significant influence over North Korea, to make efforts to jointly restrain North Korean actions," said Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the opening session of a cabinet task force set up in response to Tuesday's attack.

The mood remained tense and angry in South Korea on Wednesday, although no further violence was reported overnight following South Korea’s threat to take “enormous retaliation”, including missile strikes, if North Korea made any further attacks. South Korea’s media reacted furiously to the North Korea bombardment which was the first of its kind since the end of the Korean War hostilities in 1953, with pictures of the burning South Korean village on Yeonpyeong Island stirring painful memories.

“A club is the only medicine for a mad dog,” said Dong-A Ilbo, calling the shelling a “war crime” and demanding a strong military riposte against the rogue state, even though that appeared to have been ruled out by officials. “North Korea is putting a dagger to our throat," added the Chosun Ilbo daily, “Let's retaliate against North Korea's illegal attacks immediately, sternly and precisely.”

South Korea financial markets, which have grown used to North Korean sabre-rattling, appeared to take a more sanguine view with officials saying they expected the impact on markets to be temporary. Korean stocks opened down 2.3 percent in early trading and the Korean won sank 3.2 percent, but both later started to recover.

 

[chobolan]

China says concerned at U.S.-South Korea military drill


China says concerned at U.S.-South Korea military drill

South Korean marines walk to board a ship bound for their military base on a border island, Baegnyeongdo, at a port in Incheon November 25, 2010. Credit: REUTERS/Ha Sa-Hun/Yonhap

By Jeremy Laurence and Yoo Choonsik
SEOUL | Thu Nov 25, 2010 2:56am EST

SEOUL (Reuters) - China expressed concern on Thursday about joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises in the Yellow Sea while North Korea threatened more attacks on the wealthy South if there are more "provocations." Seoul said it would increase troops on islands near North Korea following Tuesday's bombardment of one of its small islands by Pyongyang's artillery, which has caused a sharp spike in tension in the world's fastest growing region.

Washington is putting increasing pressure on China to rein in North Korea, but a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said reviving the stalled six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Russia, China, Japan and the United States was urgently needed. "We have noted the relevant reports and express our concern about this," spokesman Hong Lei said, referring to the joint military exercises and the involvement of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington in the drill.

But Beijing has previously used stronger language to signal its displeasure. In August, the People's Liberation Army said earlier plans to send the George Washington to the Yellow Sea threatened long-term damage to Sino-U.S. relations. There was no let-up however in the typically bellicose language used by North Korea. "(North Korea) will wage second and even third rounds of attacks without any hesitation, if warmongers in South Korea make reckless military provocations again," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a statement from the military as saying.

"The U.S. cannot evade the blame for the recent shelling," it added. "If the U.S. truly desires detente on the Korean peninsula, it should not thoughtlessly shelter the South Korean puppet forces but strictly control them so that they may not commit any more adventurous military provocations." South Korean media reports said Tuesday's artillery attack was likely personally ordered by reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Kim and his son and designated heir, Jong-un, visited the Yellow Sea coastal artillery base from where shells were fired at a South Korean island near the disputed maritime boundary just hours before the attack, newspapers in Seoul said. South Korea's military was "focusing on the possibility of Kim Jong-il and his son approving the shelling of Yeonpyeong," the Chosun Ilbo quoted an unnamed member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee as saying.

NO ROGUE COMMANDER

The government declined comment but, if correct, would rule out one theory that the North's bombardment of Yeonpyeong, just south of the disputed border, might have been the decision of a rogue military commander. At least four people, including two civilians, were killed and dozens of houses destroyed on the island in the heaviest attack by the North since the Korean War ended in 1953.

It marked the first civilian deaths in an assault since the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987. North Korea said the shelling was in self-defense after Seoul fired shells into its waters. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting early on Thursday to look at how to contain the economic impact from the attack and additional security measures.

The military presence on islands in the Yellow Sea near the disputed border will be boosted and an earlier plan to scale down marine troops stationed there will be canceled, a presidential Blue House official said later. South Korea also said it would pursue constructive engagement with China to use its influence over Pyongyang. That plan looked to have suffered a setback with a later announcement that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had delayed a plan to visit Seoul this week. No reason was given.

China has long propped up the Pyongyang leadership, worried that a collapse of the North could bring instability to its own borders. Beijing is also wary of a unified Korea that would be dominated by the United States, the key ally of the South. "If China does not put public pressure on North Korea, provocations by North Korea will continue," Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said. "If the Korean peninsula is in flames, Chinese prosperity will shake from the bottom." The deaths of civilians have added to anger in the South.

"Let me say a word about those bastards at the Blue House who advised the president to say the situation should be managed to avoid a full-blown war," the Korea Joongang Daily quoted ruling party Rep Hong Sa-duk as saying. "They must all be fired for advising the president to have such a weak response." While the rhetoric continues, global markets have moved on to other issues after Tuesday's attack. The stock market opened up in Seoul on Thursday but closed almost flat.

(Reporting by Seoul bureau; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

 

[chobolan]

North Korea threatens more attacks on South


North Korea threatens more attacks on South

North Korea threatened further attacks against the South on Thursday as tensions mounted on the Korean peninsular, with South Korea’s government facing angry calls at home to strike back at the rogue regime of Kim Jong-il.

North Korean troops standing to attention in Pyongyang Photo: AFP/Getty Images

North Korean soldiers watch from a boat as they patrol on the Yalu River, the China-North Korea border river, near North Korea's town of Sinuiju Photo: AP

North Korea fired dozens of shells at a South Korean border island Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Peter Foster in Beijing 7:10AM GMT 25 Nov 2010

“North Korea will wage second and even third rounds of attacks without any hesitation, if warmongers in South Korea make reckless military provocations again," the North's official KCNA news agency said, quoting the country’s military.

The threat of further action two days after the North’s artillery batteries bombarded a South Korean island, killing four people and destroying 22 houses, in an act that was condemned around the world.

Although winning international plaudits for his calls for restraint over the attack, South Korea’s president Lee Myung-bak, has been berated at home by South Korea’s media and even some members of his ruling party.

“Let me say a word about those bastards at the Blue House who advised the president to say the situation should be managed to avoid a full-blown war," the Korea Joongang Daily quoted ruling party law-maker Hong Sa-duk as saying. “They must all be fired for advising the president to have such a weak response.”

Although the South has grown somewhat inured to provocations from the North – last March a South Korean warship the Cheonan was sunk with the loss of 46 lives in an apparent North Korean torpedo attack – an attack on South Korea’s own territory has stirred stronger feelings.

Mr Lee’s government, which has threatened missile-strikes if North Korea attacks again, responded to public pressure by announcing it would strengthen the garrisons on five outlying islands near its border with the North. As the outcry against the North grew in Seoul, the international divisions between the US and China over how to handle the North Korean crisis showed no signs of abating.

Washington has already announced the deployment of a nuclear-powered carrier battle-group to the Yellow Sea for joint exercises with South Korea this weekend in a show of force that has enraged Pyongyang and defied Beijing’s calls for a swift return to the negotiating table.

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, on a trip to Russia, again called for a resumption of the Six Party disarmament talks, a move that the US and its allies have said is impossible until North Korea ceases its belligerence and makes serious entreaties over nuclear disarmament.

“China is firmly committed to maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and opposes any provocative military acts,” Mr Wen said, without making clear whether he was referring to the North Korean bombardment, the US carrier deployment or South Korea war games earlier in the week that the North said had provoked their attack – or all three.

The US has made no secret that it wants China, as the North’s only international ally, to use its economic and political clout to force Pyongyang to curb the excesses of the regime of the ailing Kim Jong-il. The North is currently in the middle of a leadership transition that will hand power to his youngest son, the inexperienced 26-year-old Kim Jong-un who, according to speculation in South Korea, may have personally ordered the bombardment to bolster his standing having recently been appointed as a major-general.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington was working with allies on ways to respond to the attack, adding: “It's very important for China to lead.” Analysts however remain sceptical that China, which argues that the US stance risks further destabilizing North Korea, will diverge significantly from its current policies towards Pyongyang.

Peter Beck, a North Korea expert with the US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations, said: “In the wake of the Cheonan sinking, Beijing showed us that they are more than willing to put up with Pyongyang's worst behaviour. “Given that this incident brings us closer to the brink of war than the Cheonan, Beijing might conclude that enough is enough and quietly put their foot down, but I am not holding my breath.”

 

[chobolan]

South Korea tells reporters to leave Yeonpyeong


Sunday November 28, 2010

South Korea tells reporters to leave Yeonpyeong

<table align="right" border="0" width="20%"><tbody><tr></tr><tr><td>

</td></tr><tr><td>South Korean marines take shelter in a bunker after siren and broadcast warnings go off on Yeonpyeong Island November 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak)

</td></tr></tbody></table>SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Defence Ministry on Sunday adviced reporters to leave Yeonpyeong island, which came under attack from North Korea on Tuesday. "All journalists must leave Yeonpyeong island," the ministry said in a mobile phone text message.

(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

 

[chobolan]

North Korea "readies missiles"


North Korea "readies missiles"

By Kim Do-gyun
YEONPYEONG, South Korea | Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:36am EST

YEONPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea has placed surface-to-surface missiles on launch pads in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap news agency said, as the United States and South Korea began military drills and China called for emergency talks. China made clear that the talks would not amount to a resumption of six-party discussions which North Korea walked out of two years ago and declared dead. South Korea's presidential Blue House said now was not the time to discuss resumption of six-party talks. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told a visiting Chinese delegation that Beijing, North Korea's only major ally which is traditionally reluctant to criticize the reclusive regime, should do more to help.

China, which agreed with South Korea that the situation was "worrisome," suggested emergency talks among six governments involved in discussions aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program. The call was made by a senior Chinese diplomat, Wu Dawei, at a brief news conference. The talks bring together North and South Korea, host China, the United States, Japan and Russia. Beijing is the North's most powerful ally and has repeatedly urged restraint and fresh talks to defuse tensions. Yonhap said North Korea had moved surface-to-air missiles to frontline areas, days after it shelled a tiny South Korean island killing four people.

The North's official KCNA news agency warned of retaliatory action if its territory is violated. South Korea's Defense Ministry told journalists to leave the island, Yeonpyeong, because the situation was "bad." Many residents evacuated earlier said they did not want to return. "We will deliver a brutal military blow on any provocation which violates our territorial waters," KCNA said. Officials from South Korea's Defense Ministry and the joint chiefs said they could not comment on the Yonhap report. "It is impossible to confirm the report as it is classified as military secret," an official said.

In Seoul, life carried on normally for the city's more than 10 million residents, with downtown shopping districts jammed with people despite the freezing temperatures, and cafes decked with Christmas decorations doing brisk business. "I am worried, but not that worried that I need to stay at home," said Eunhye Kim, an usher showing people from a packed theater in the capital. "They don't really want to make war ...there's no gain from either side."

PRESSURE ON CHINA

The exercises, in waters far south of the disputed maritime boundary, are being held in the face of opposition by China and threats of all-out war from North Korea. The chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly will visit China from Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said. Lee told Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who outranks Foreign Minister Yang Jiechie, that Beijing, with its growing international influence, should do more to help ensure peace.

China has not taken sides in the conflict and declined to blame North Korea, unlike the United States, for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March. "We ask that China make a contribution to peace on the Korean peninsula by taking a more fair and responsible position on South-North Korea ties," the presidential Blue House quoted Lee as telling Dai.

"The Chinese side conveyed the message of condolences for the South Korean victims of the Yeonpyeong incident and said it would make efforts to prevent the situation from deteriorating for the sake of peace between the South and North," Lee's spokesman said. Lee said the attack on civilians, coming after the revelation of the North's highly uranium enrichment program, was a grave change in the situation.

"Lee asked that China play a role in North-South ties to match its growing international stature at a time when the Cold War is over and we should be pursuing coexistence and peace in the 21st century," Lee's spokesman, Hong Sang-pyo, said. Washington says the drill is intended as a deterrent after the worst assault on South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

Seoul expects jitters in financial markets to settle in the short term unless North Korea carries out further provocations, Yonhap quoted a senior Finance Ministry official as saying. The government plans to inject sufficient liquidity in won and dollar trading if local markets suffer from herd behavior on Monday, Yonhap said. The nuclear-powered carrier USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of over 6,000, has joined the exercises and will be accompanied by at least four other U.S. warships, an official from U.S. Forces Korea (USKF) told Reuters.

South Korea has deployed three destroyers, frigates and anti-submarine aircraft, Yonhap news agency reported, adding the exercises were being held far south of the disputed area where the artillery firing took place on Tuesday. South Korea's marine commander on Saturday vowed "thousand-fold" revenge for the North Korean attack that killed two servicemen and two civilians.

North Korea said that if there had been civilian deaths, they were "very regrettable," but that South Korea should be blamed for using a human shield. It also said the United States should be blamed for "orchestrating" the whole sequence of events to justify sending an aircraft carrier to join the maritime maneuvers.

(Additional reporting by Cheon Jong-woo, Jack Kim and Jeremy Laurence in Seoul and Chris Buckley in BEIJING)
(Writing by Nick Macfie, editing by Andrew Marshall)

 

[megous0001]

Are customers being forced towards use of internet banking for the convenience of the banks and big business? Or do customers really benefit from banking on-line.

 

[Dong Zhuo]

South Korea plans new drills as China avoids blaming North


South Korea plans new drills as China avoids blaming North

Tue, Nov 30 2010

South Korean maritime policemen conduct a drill on a patrol ship near Yeonpyeong Island near the western maritime border between the two Koreas, 11 km (7 miles) from the North, about 115 km (71 miles) northwest of Seoul, June 11, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Yang Hee-Seok

By Nick Macfie
SEOUL | Wed Dec 1, 2010 12:22am EST

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans more military drills after U.S. warships leave on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency said, a move likely to add to tension on the divided peninsula after last week's attack by the North. The isolated North's only powerful ally, China, protected Pyongyang from censure by the U.N. Security Council for last week's deadly bombardment of the South's Yonpyeong island, an attack many analysts believe was an attempt by the impoverished state to grab attention and force the resumption of international negotiations that could bring it aid.

As the nuclear-powered USS George Washington heads out of Korean waters back to Japan, South Korea is planning further artillery drills, "including waters close to the Yellow Sea border (with the North)" starting on Monday, Yonhap said. The Defense Ministry would not comment on the report. Such drills are common and the exercise would be west of Yeonpyeong, Yonhap said. The plan was to "beef up its defense readiness posture against any possible additional provocations by North Korea," it said, quoting officials.

An attempt by France and Britain to push the U.N. Security Council to condemn North Korea's nuclear program and the attack on Yeonpyeong was on the verge of collapse because of China's unwillingness to apportion blame, envoys said. The reason for the virtual breakdown of talks on two separate Security Council statements to rebuke Pyongyang was China's demand for removal of key words such as "condemn" and "violation."

The United States and South Korea are pressing China, which has not blamed North Korea for the island attack, or for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March, to do more to rein in its ally. President Lee Myung-bak, widely criticized at home for a perceived weak response to the North Korean attack, has twice warned that any further provocation would be met with force. Outgoing Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers on Tuesday that there was an "ample possibility" the North may stage another provocation after the joint maneuvers end.

THREATS AND BOASTS

Many analysts believe North Korea's attack, continual threats of all-out war and its boasting on Tuesday of huge nuclear advances are aimed at holding the world's attention as it seeks aid and other economic sweeteners with the resumption of so-called "six-party talks" it walked out of two years ago. North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests to date and is believed to have enough fissile material from its plutonium-based program to make between six and 12 bombs.

It is also seen as a proliferation risk, accused by the West of supplying Syria, and possibly Iran, with nuclear know-how. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday the North's nuclear program, last week's attack on Yeonpyeong and a Chinese proposal for emergency talks would be raised at meeting of foreign ministers in Washington in early December. South Korea, Japan and the United States, three of the six countries involved in the on-off disarmament talks, will attend.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)