U.S. Officially Confirms 2nd Nuclear Blast By N. Korea on May 25 (Yonhap News Agency)
WASHINGTON – The United States Monday officially confirmed that North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on May 25.
In a statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said, "The U.S. intelligence community assesses that North Korea probably conducted an underground nuclear explosion in the vicinity of Punggye on May 25, 2009."
The statement estimated the explosion yield at "approximately a few kilotons," adding, "Analysis of the event continues."
Estimations of the yield vary between four and 20 kilotons among countries gauging the explosion. However, a few kilotons is considered a success, unlike the first nuclear detonation conducted in 2006 by the North, which was less than one kiloton.
Experts say no one knows what the intended yield was.
The atomic blast at Hiroshima in 1945 was the equivalent of about 10 kilotons of TNT.
It is the first official confirmation by any U.S. government agency of the nuclear test, which Pyongyang said was done on May 25 to "bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense."
Soon after the North's announcement, South Korean and U.S. officials said that they detected seismic tremors from the northeastern city of Poongkye-ri (Punggye), North Hamgyong Province, near the site where the North detonated its first nuclear device in 2006.
On May 26, the U.S. State Department said, "The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that a seismic event took place consistent with a test."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, also told CNN on that day, "There's no indication that it wasn't as they say. It will take us a couple of days to verify this test."
In response, the United Nations Security Council imposed stronger financial sanctions and an overall arms embargo, including inspections of sea, land and air cargo suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction in international waters.
Pyongyang, in turn, has threatened to begin enriching uranium for further nuclear bombs, weaponize all its plutonium and, if attacked by the U.S. and its allies, stage a nuclear war.
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N.Korean Launch Pad Ready for Missile Test (Chosun Ilbo)
North Korea has finished preparatory work at a missile launch pad in Tongchangri, North Pyongan Province, where a long-range missile has been transported, a South Korean government source said Monday [15 June]. "But the launch is not imminent because no radar has been set up and no missile has been installed at the launch pad," the source added.
But the launch structure connecting electric power and fuel to the missile and allowing personnel to check the missile has been erected. That means North Korea is speeding up preparations to launch a long-range missile there.
Expert analysis of satellite photos shows the launch structure is about 50m high, much higher than the 30m it had previously been believed to be. A launch pad of this height is capable of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile measuring 40m or longer.
The old launch pad at the Musudanri launch site in North Hamgyong Province is a mere 32m high. The whole Tongchangri launch site is actually three times as large.
But experts are still divided on when and what kind of missile the North will fire, the source added. There is a likelihood that North Korea will conduct a third nuclear test in resistance to the UN Security Council's adoption last week of a resolution sanctioning it.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are watching for signs of another nuclear test, having spotted constant moves of personnel and vehicles in the Punggyeri area in Kilju-gun, North Hamgyong Province, where it conducted the first and second nuclear tests.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence services are watching two or three locations as possible candidate sites for another nuclear test. The likeliest candidate site is the eastern mine pit area of Mt. Mantap in Punggyeri, where the first nuclear test in October 2006 happened.
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N. Korea says two U.S. journalists admitted to political motive for smear campaign (Yonhap News Agency)
SEOUL -- North Korea said Tuesday that two jailed U.S. journalists admitted to having the "political motive" of blackmailing the North over its human rights conditions, linking their detention to the country's deteriorating relations with Washington.
Pyongyang is closely watching "the attitude of the U.S.," the official Korean Central News Agency said, just hours before South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama were to meet in Washington. The leaders will focus on coordinating sanctions against the North over its May 25 nuclear test.
"At the trial the accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK (North Korea)," the report said.
Chinese-American Laura Ling, 32, and Korean-American Euna Lee, 36, reporters for the San Francisco-based Current TV, were detained near the border with China in March while working on a story about North Korean defectors.
North Korea's highest court sentenced them on June 8 to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and hostile acts.
Laying out a detailed account for the first time, Tuesday's report connected the journalists' case to the sharpening diplomatic confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea.
The Americans consulted with senior producers of their television station for the "anti-DPRK smear campaign over its human rights issue" in January and covertly crossed the Tumen River that separates the country from China at dawn on March 17, the report claimed. They were arrested on the spot, it said.
The North accused the journalists of "faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it."
"We are following with a high degree of vigilance the attitude of the U.S. which spawned the criminal act against the DPRK," the report said.
The report added the prison term is counted from March 22, when the two were formally detained for an investigation and that the ruling cannot be appealed.
Seoul analysts believe the North timed its latest report on the U.S. detainees with the South Korea-U.S. summit set to start at the White House at 11:30 p.m. (Seoul time).
North Korea is reminding President Obama that he has an issue to solve with Pyongyang and that he had better tone down any criticism and start direct talks, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul.
The allies strongly condemned the North's May 25 nuclear test, and the U.N. Security Council, with support from Seoul and Tokyo, hardened financial and diplomatic sanctions against the North last week.
In response, Pyongyang vowed to weaponize all plutonium it has and start enriching uranium, which is widely viewed as a second track to building nuclear weapons.
"North Korea is telling the U.S., 'Do not stick with harsh sanctions in the summit. These people committed these serious crimes, so shouldn't you step out for their release? 'It is saying the U.S. should take political action to resolve the political case," Kim said.
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'Full Text' of 'Joint Statement' on ROK-US Alliance's Future Issued at Summit (Yonhap News Agency)
Yonhap
WASHINGTON -- The following is the full text of a joint statement on the future of the South Korea-U.S. alliance issued at the end of a bilateral summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday [16 June].
JOINT VISION FOR THE ALLIANCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Republic of Korea and the United States of America are building an Alliance to ensure a peaceful, secure and prosperous future for the Korean Peninsula, the Asia-Pacific region, and the world.
Our open societies, our commitment to free democracy and a market economy, and our sustained partnership provide a foundation for the enduring friendship, shared values, and mutual respect that tightly bind the Korean and American peoples.
The bonds that underpin our Alliance and our partnership are strengthened and enriched by the close relationships among our citizens. We pledge to continue programs and efforts to build even closer ties between our societies, including cooperation among business, civic, cultural, academic, and other institutions.
The Republic of Korea-United States Mutual Defense Treaty remains the cornerstone of the ROK-U.S. security relationship, which has guaranteed peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia for over fifty years. Over that time, our security Alliance has strengthened and our partnership has widened to encompass political, economic, social and cultural cooperation. Together, on this solid foundation, we will build a comprehensive strategic alliance of bilateral, regional and global scope, based on common values and mutual trust. Together, we will work shoulder-to-shoulder to tackle challenges facing both our nations on behalf of the next generation.
The Alliance is adapting to changes in the 21st Century security environment. We will maintain a robust defense posture, backed by allied capabilities which support both nations' security interests. The continuing commitment of extended deterrence, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, reinforces this assurance. In advancing bilateral plan for restructuring the Alliance, the Republic of Korea will take the lead role in the combined defense of Korea, supported by an enduring and capable U.S. military force presence on the Korean Peninsula, in the region, and beyond.
We will continue to deepen our strong bilateral economic, trade and investment relations. We recognize that the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement could further strengthen these ties and we are committed to working together to chart a way forward. We aim to make low-carbon green growth into a new engine for sustainable economic prosperity and will closely cooperate in this regard. We will strengthen civil space cooperation, and work closely together on clean energy research and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Through our Alliance we aim to build a better future for all people on the Korean Peninsula, establishing a durable peace on the Peninsula and leading to peaceful reunification on the principles of free democracy and a market economy. We will work together to achieve the complete and verifiable elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, as well as ballistic missile programs, and to promote respect for the fundamental human rights of the North Korean people.
In the Asia-Pacific region we will work jointly with regional institutions and partners to foster prosperity, keep the peace, and improve the daily lives of the people of the region. We believe that open societies and open economies create prosperity and support human dignity, and our nations and civic organizations will promote human rights, democracy, free markets, and trade and investment liberalization in the region. To enhance security in the Asia-Pacific, our governments will advocate for, and take part in, effective cooperative regional efforts to promote mutual understanding, confidence and transparency regarding security issues among the nations of the region.
Our governments and our citizens will work closely to address the global challenges of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, piracy, organized crime and narcotics, climate change, poverty, infringement on human rights, energy se curity, and epidemic disease. The Alliance will enhance coordination on peacekeeping, post-conflict stabilization and development assistance, as is being undertaken in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will also strengthen coordination in multilateral mechanisms aimed at global economic recovery such as the G20.
The Republic of Korea and the United States of America will work to achieve our common Alliance goals through strategic cooperation at every level. Proven bilateral mechanisms such as the Security Consultative Meeting and the Strategic Consultations for Allied Partnership will remain central to realizing this shared vision for the Alliance.
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Lee, Obama Warn of 'serious Consequences' For N. Korean Provocation (Yonhap News Agency)
WASHINGTON – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hinted Tuesday at a possible shutdown of a lucrative industrial park in North Korea, while his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama warned North Korea of "serious sanctions" for its provocative and belligerent behavior.
Lee's warning came shortly after Pyongyang demanded in recent dialogue with Seoul that South Korean businesses at the joint industrial complex in Kaesong raise the salaries of their North Korean workers by nearly four times and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.
"We urge North Korea not to make any unacceptable demands because we really do not know what will happen if they keep on this path," the South Korean head of state said in a joint press conference with Obama shortly after their summit talks at the White House.
Lee also said more than 40,000 North Korean workers currently working for South Korean firms there will lose jobs if the complex is closed.
The dramatic change of position on Kaesong by Lee, who earlier said the reconciliatory project must be kept alive despite the nuclear standoff, apparently comes as he and Obama agreed to break what they called a pattern of their making concessions following North Korean threats and provocations.
"I want to emphasize something President Lee said, that there has been a pattern in the past where North Korea behaves in a belligerent fashion and, if it waits long enough, it is rewarded," Obama told the joint press conference.
"I think that is the pattern they have come to expect. The message we are sending them is that we are going to break that pattern," he added.
The Lee-Obama summit came amid North Korea's threat to reinforce its nuclear arsenal and start enriching uranium -- a move that prompted the ongoing nuclear standoff in the first place -- in a clear defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned its May 25 nuclear test.
The communist state has also said it will not come to the negotiating table unless Washington first recognizes it as a nuclear state.
Obama made it clear his country will not make any concessions.
"North Korea also has a track record of proliferation that makes it unacceptable for them to be a nuclear power," he told the press conference.
Shortly after the North's nuclear detonation test last month, the second of its kind since 2006, the U.S. said it was considering putting North Korea back on its list of terrorism-sponsoring states. North Korea was taken off the list for first time last year under a denuclearization-for-aid deal.
Lee and Obama said a peaceful coexistence is still an option for the North, but that it can only be obtained through peaceful negotiations.
"I want to be clear that there is another path available for North Korea. A path that will lead to peace and prosperity," Obama said.
"But in order to take that path, North Korea has to make a decision and understand that prestige and security and prosperity are not going to come through the path of threatening neighbors and engaging in violations of international law," he said.
The U.S. president added that the world will begin "serious enforcement" of sanctions already placed on the North by U.N. Security Council resolutions if Pyongyang continues to be provocative and belligerent.
Following their talks, Lee and Obama said they have agreed to significantly boost their countries' relationship, and the South Korean president noted that a firm alliance between the two will make North Korea think twice before taking steps it might regret.
In a joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the leaders said the countries will turn their alliance, formed under a mutual defense treaty signed in 1953, into a "comprehensive, strategic relationship" built not only on bilateral or security issues, but also on social, economic and political issues at regional as well as global levels.
"Through our Alliance we aim to build a better future for all people on the Korean Peninsula, establishing a durable peace on the Peninsula and leading to peaceful reunification on the principles of free democracy and a market economy," said the statement, titled "Joint Vision for the Alliance" of South Korea and the United States.
Tuesday's meeting also focused on economic cooperation as Seoul and Washington try to move forward with ratification of a free trade agreement sealed nearly two years ago.
Obama said the countries will work to find solutions acceptable to both the U.S. and South Korea.
"What I have done was to affirm to President Lee that we want to work with Korea to resolve the issues that are preventing free trade. I want to make sure that we have an agreement that I feel confident that it is good for the American, President Lee feels confident that it is good for the Koreans," he said.
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