NK boosts warnings as it marks Kim ascension
Source: Agencies |
April 12, 2013, Friday
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NORTH Korea delivered a fresh round of rhetoric yesterday with claims it had "powerful striking means" on standby for a missile 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.
In South Korea, the point person on relations with North Korea, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, urged Pyongyang to cool down, engage in talks and reverse its decision to suspend operation of a joint industrial park just north of the border. "We strongly urge North Korea not to exacerbate the crisis on the Korean peninsula," Ryoo said.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a nonmilitary agency that deals with relations with South Korea, said its "striking means" have been "put on standby for a launch and the coordinates of targets put into the warheads." It didn't clarify further.
SK, allies brace for launch
Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile designed to reach the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Such a launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions barring North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity, and mark a major escalation in Pyongyang's standoff with neighboring nations and the US. North Korea already has been punished 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.
"North Korea has been, with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions ... skating very close to a dangerous line," US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday. "Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation."
The missile that officials believe Pyongyang is readying has a range of 3,500 kilometers and is designed to reach US military installments in Guam and Japan, experts say.
Bracing for a launch that officials said could happen at any time, Seoul deployed three naval destroyers, an early warning aircraft and a land-based radar system, a Defense Ministry official said in Seoul. Japan deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors around Tokyo. US Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Seoul today for talks with South Korean officials.
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.
In South Korea, the point person on relations with North Korea, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, urged Pyongyang to cool down, engage in talks and reverse its decision to suspend operation of a joint industrial park just north of the border. "We strongly urge North Korea not to exacerbate the crisis on the Korean peninsula," Ryoo said.
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a nonmilitary agency that deals with relations with South Korea, said its "striking means" have been "put on standby for a launch and the coordinates of targets put into the warheads." It didn't clarify further.
SK, allies brace for launch
Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile designed to reach the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Such a launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions barring North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity, and mark a major escalation in Pyongyang's standoff with neighboring nations and the US. North Korea already has been punished 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.
"North Korea has been, with its bellicose rhetoric, with its actions ... skating very close to a dangerous line," US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday. "Their actions and their words have not helped defuse a combustible situation."
The missile that officials believe Pyongyang is readying has a range of 3,500 kilometers and is designed to reach US military installments in Guam and Japan, experts say.
Bracing for a launch that officials said could happen at any time, Seoul deployed three naval destroyers, an early warning aircraft and a land-based radar system, a Defense Ministry official said in Seoul. Japan deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors around Tokyo. US Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Seoul today for talks with South Korean officials.
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