U.S. Hoping to Get China on Side over N. Korea (Chosun Ilbo)
The United States is trying to get China on side in enforcing sanctions under the latest UN Security Council resolution against North Korea. Washington is contemplating sending former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has close ties to China, or someone of similar caliber. It feels Beijing is the key to ensuring the sanctions are effective since China accounts for 70 percent of North Korea's trade.
"The U.S. wants to show that international cooperation can enforce strong sanctions against North Korea even for the purpose of bringing the North back to the negotiation table later," a U.S. official said Sunday. Washington is convinced that persuasion of China is a top priority if Resolution 1874 is not to go the way of the previous resolution, which petered out in subsequent nuclear negotiations with the North.
Heavyweight Envoy
In a number of South Korean-U.S. meetings during the Seoul-Washington summit last week, the U.S. explained it wants to send a heavyweight like Kissinger, who is regarded as the best possible envoy to Beijing. In addition to playing midwife in normalizing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China in the 1970s, Kissinger was in the Chinese capital early this year along with former president Jimmy Carter to convey a message from then president-elect Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, a delegation led by Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy is touring South Korea, China and Japan this week to discuss enforcement of the Security Council resolution. The mission is focused on persuading Beijing.
China's Attitude
China agreed to Resolution 1874, which bans weapons exports, encourages the inspection of suspect cargo and sanctions financial activities. But it remains to be seen, how energetically it will take part in enforcing it. Beijing also agreed to the Resolution 1718 after the North's first nuclear test in 2006 but it did not enforce provisions banning luxury exports to the North. And China has traditionally refrained from strong pressure against the North because it values the stability of the North Korean regime.
But Seoul and Washington say they are seeing a subtle shift in China’s attitude. "Despite being a close ally, China finds it hard to sit idle while a neighbor goes nuclear," said a government official. "The U.S. is focusing on multilateral sanctions rather than on unilateral ones because it feels China could be talked into participating." Another official speculated, "It's possible that China will take part in sanctions against the North above a certain level to achieve resumption of the six-party talks it chairs." China has reportedly cut the quantities of oil sent to the North and reinforced inspections of exports to the North.
The June 13 Beijing visit by the North Korean defense minister, Kim Yong-chun, probably came to counter such perceptions. The official Rodong Shinmun daily on Saturday said stronger sanctions would lead to a tougher military response. This could have been a signal to Beijing not to take part in sanctions against the North, an official here speculated.
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Kim Jong-un 'Acting as Proxy for Kim Jong-il' (Chosun Ilbo)
North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-un works as acting chairman of the National Defense Commission to support his ailing father Kim Jong-il, the Mainichi Shimbun said Saturday.
Quoting sources close to the North Korean regime, the Japanese daily said the leader's youngest son (26) is assisting his father although the position is not an official title.
The paper quoted an official close to the North Korean leadership as saying this means Kim junior would immediately assume the commission chairmanship, effectively the most powerful post in the land, if Kim dies, although he has a position neither in the Workers Party nor at the Ministry of People's Armed Forces.
Early this year, the General Political Department of the People's Army distributed an internal document saying Kim junior had been chosen as the heir apparent. The Ministry of People's Armed Forces and the Ministry of Public Security then led the efforts to establish the succession, and a new term "under the system of Kim Jong-un's leadership" is currently in use, the daily added.
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S. Korea begins activity as PSI member (Yonhap News Agency)
SEOUL -- South Korea has dispatched a director-level foreign ministry official to an international meeting of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), its first official act since becoming a full-fledged member of the U.S.-led counter-proliferation campaign, officials said Monday.
South Korea announced its participation in the PSI on May 26, a day after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test, despite warnings from the communist neighbor that such a move would be seen as an "act of war."
"The government has sent Lee Jang-geun, director of the foreign ministry's disarmament and nonproliferation department, to the PSI's European Regional Operational Experts Group meeting in Sopot, Poland, from June 22-24," the ministry's deputy spokesman Choe Jong-hyun said. Although the forum is for European members, nonregional members are also invited.
The PSI, launched by former U.S. President George W. Bush in Krakow, Poland, in May 2003, seeks to prevent the transfer of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials by air, ground or sea to and from states and nonstate actors of proliferation concern. It currently consists of 95 member countries.
North Korea, known for exporting illicit weapons, is among the major targets of the initiative.
The isolated nation must also contend with U.N.-sponsored sanctions imposed after its latest nuclear test.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 bans North Korea from trafficking a wide range of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weaponry. It "calls upon" U.N. member states to search North Korean ships if there are "reasonable grounds" to suspect that they are carrying contraband cargo.
The U.S. navy is currently keeping tabs on a North Korean freighter, the Kang Nam, which is reportedly heading towards Myanmar after leaving North Korea's western port in Nampo last Wednesday, according to foreign news reports which cited unidentified U.S. officials.
South Korean government officials insisted that despite the U.N. resolution, the PSI remains active as it targets not only North Korea but also other countries involved in the trade of illegal weapons.
South Korea has yet to decide whether to take part in a major interdiction exercise to be held in October off the coast of Singapore, they added.
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US 'prepared' for N.Korea missile launch: Obama (AFP)
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama will assure Americans, in an interview to be aired on Monday, that the United States is "fully prepared" for a potential North Korean missile launch toward US territory.
"This administration -- and our military -- is fully prepared for any contingencies," Obama told CBS when asked about the possibility that North Korea could fire a missile toward Hawaii on or about July 4, the US Independence Day.
Asked if that meant Washington was "warning of a military response," Obama answered: "No. It's just we are prepared for any contingencies."
"I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals," he said, according to excerpts. "But I do want to give assurances to the American people that the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted in terms of what might happen."
For its part, North Korea described itself Monday as a "proud nuclear power" and threatened to hit back if it considered to be under attack.
Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling communist party, said the US "should take a correct look" at who it is dealing with.
"It is a great mistake for the US to think it will not be hurt if it ignores this," the paper warned.
The exchange came after a Gallup poll released Thursday suggested that 51 percent of Americans believe North Korea poses the greatest direct threat to US security, ahead of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US military has beefed up its defenses in Hawaii over fears Pyongyang may launch a missile at the Pacific island chain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
"I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory," Gates said.
He added that he had approved the deployment to Hawaii of Theatre High Altitude Area Defense weaponry for "support" in case of a North Korean launch.
THAAD weapons, coupled with a radar system nearby, are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Ground-based defenses in the state of Alaska are also ready, Gates said.
Meanwhile, a US Navy destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, has been tracking a North Korean ship that has been previously linked to illicit missile-related cargo, according to US defense officials.
South Korea's YTN television news channel, citing an unnamed intelligence source, said the United States suspects that the 2,000-tonne Kang Nam 1 is carrying missiles or related parts, and is heading for Myanmar via Singapore.
It is the first vessel to be monitored under a United Nations resolution passed a week ago that bans shipments of arms and nuclear or missile technology to and from North Korea.
US officials have yet to indicate if or when they might ask to search the vessel under the UN Security Council resolution.
The measure calls for inspections of ships if there are "reasonable grounds" that a vessel may be carrying illicit cargo but rules out the use of military force to back up the searches.
In the interview, Obama also said there was strong international consensus against Pyongyang, after it detonated its second nuclear device on May 25 -- following the first one in 2006 -- and went ahead with what Washington called a disguised test of a long-range missile in April.
Pyongyang said its April 5 launch put a satellite into orbit, a claim the US military has disputed, saying the payload -- along with the rest of the missile -- splashed into the Pacific Ocean.
"More broadly, I think the international community has spoken," Obama said, noting that the UN Security Council has agreed to tighter cargo inspections, a stricter arms embargo and new targeted financial curbs to choke off revenue for the North's nuclear and missile sectors.
But the US president also pointed out that North Korea still had "a path towards rejoining the international community."
"And we hope they take that path," he said.
Obama on Tuesday called Pyongyang a "grave threat" and vowed to defend South Korea after talks in Washington with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
The North in turn accused Obama and Lee of "trying to ignite a nuclear war." "The US-touted provision of 'extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella' (for South Korea) is nothing but 'a nuclear war plan,'" the North's state-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said.
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