Not too much happening (as far as number of activities are concerned) on the Korean peninsula over the weekend...for a change...
U.S. envoy urges N. Korea to reengage in dialogue (Yonahp)
SEOUL - A senior U.S envoy urged North Korea Saturday to take "serious and irreversible steps" to end its stand-off with the U.S. and other regional powers, saying it is a precondition for a "comprehensive package" of incentives.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, also emphasized that it is important to have patience and keep the door open for dialogue with North Korea, while enforcing U.N. sanctions on the communist nation for its provocative actions.
"I would say at this juncture the most important quality that the U.S., South Korea, Japan, China and Russia can demonstrate is patience," he told reporters after a closed-door meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon here. Campbell flew into South Korea from Japan earlier in the day for his first trip to South Korea since assuming the post last month.
He pointed out that U.S. officials have made clear that, "If North Korea is prepared to take serious and irreversible steps the U.S., South Korea, Japan, China and others will be able to put together a comprehensive package that would be attractive to North Korea. But in this respect, North Korea really has to take some of the first steps."
All of the countries are participants in the six-way talks aimed at scrapping the North's nuclear program. The last formal session of the Beijing-based negotiations was held in December.
North Korea announced after a long-range rocket launch in April that it would quit the often-troubled talks. The North also conducted a second nuclear test in May, prompting the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution imposing a robust set of sanctions on it.
In the latest measure against the North, a U.N. Security Council committee imposed a travel ban on five North Korean officials and asset freezes on five more entities for their involvement in missile and nuclear weapons development.
"We believe there have to be consequences," Campbell said, citing the U.S. efforts to implement the resolution. "We're looking at a full range of particular steps designed to put pressure on North Korea."
He said sanctions are already proving to be effective. He said the recent turnback of a North Korean cargo ship, Kang Nam 1, is an example.
The Kang Nam 1 was suspected of carrying illegal weapons to be exported to probably Myanmar. After its voyage was closely monitored by the U.S. Navy for weeks, the ship reversed its course and returned to North Korea. The U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, adopted after the North's nuclear test on May 25, authorizes member countries to take measures to stop the North's arms trade by air, land, and sea.
Campbell said it sent a message to North Korea and "caused some pain to the leadership."
He said it is North Korea that should change its course as it has chosen "lies, greater tensions, greater hardship for its people, more isolation and a lack of engagement in the international economy."
On a proposed five-way meeting without North Korea, meanwhile, Campbell said it is unlikely to be held in the near future.
"I think the U.S. and South Korea have explored the option of a five-party meeting at some point. Preparations need to be taken for such a meeting. I'm not sure we'll be ready to do it in Phuket," he said. Some said that the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to be held in the Thai resort island next week may set the stage for such a five-way event. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her counterparts from South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia are scheduled to attend the ARF.
"But the U.S. and South Korea are busy coordinating our respective positions and ensure that all the members have an opportunity to interact, if not in a collective setting, then bilaterally in Thailand," he added.
South Korea supports such a five-way gathering for discussions on how to bring the North to the disarmament talks but China, which chairs the negotiations, takes a lukewarm stance apparently due to concerns that it will make the North Koreans feel more isolated and have a negative impact on the six-party format.
The U.S. official plans to hold a series of meetings with other top South Korean officials including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, on Monday before heading to Thailand later in the day.
Campbell said he will "consult on a wide range of issues, particularly relating to North Korea to make sure of our common strategy."
His trip comes as the North shows no signs of bowing to the international pressure.
On Saturday, Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA belatedly reported comments by the country's number two leader Kim Yong-nam at the Non-Aligned Movement summit of 118 nations in Egypt earlier this week.
"Noting that not only the peace and security of the country but also the dignity of the nation and sovereignty of the DPRK (North Korea) have been grossly violated by the high-handed acts of the U.S., Kim asserted that if such acts of the U.S. are allowed to go on, the DPRK would be totally deprived of the legitimate right to use space," the KCNA said, referring to the international condemnation of its failed satellite launch in April.
"The DPRK can never accept dialogue or negotiations minus the principle of respect for sovereignty and equal sovereignty," Kim was quoted as saying. "The prevailing situation compelled the DPRK government to take decisive steps to bolster up its nuclear deterrence."
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S. Korean defense chief reaffirms denuclearization of Korean Peninsula (Yonhap)
SEOUL - South Korea's defense minister on Sunday countered a claim by some conservatives here that the country should have nuclear weapons to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
"The government has constantly pushed for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula since joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1975 and will continue to do so," Lee Sang-hee said in an interview with state-owned broadcaster KTV. "The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be maintained."
Some right-leaning politicians and other conservatives have called for Seoul to obtain "nuclear sovereignty" especially since the communist neighbor conducted a second nuclear test on May 25. Analysts said the underground experiment yielded a far more powerful explosion than the previous one in October 2006, indicating the North's nuclear weapons technology has improved significantly.
Pyongyang has made clear that it has no intention of abandoning its nuclear weapons.
The defense minister also called for a cautious approach towards demands for the redeployment of the U.S. military's tactical nuclear weapons.
Washington withdrew its tactical nuclear weapons from the peninsula in 1991.
"Some people say that nuclear weapons should be redeployed on the Korean Peninsula but we should think carefully about it," Lee said.
He pointed out that South Korea can thwart the North's nuclear provocations with the help of an "extended nuclear umbrella" provided by the U.S.
In his summit with President Lee Myung-bak in Washington last month, U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed in writing his country's commitment to providing an "extended nuclear umbrella" for South Korea in response to increasing nuclear threats from the North. It was the first time for the allies' leaders to make the commitment, though U.S. defense ministers have promised since 1978 to offer necessary nuclear deterrence capabilities to South Korea.
"One thing is certain," the defense chief said, "and that is that South Korea and the U.S. have the joint defense capability to deter North Korea and are in a position to win any war against it through our joint operation system."
He acknowledged that the North has 300 to 400 long-rang artillery missiles that are able to hit targets in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province, adding that all of them are buried in underground tunnels, but said the weapons would be rendered useless if the entrances to the tunnels are destroyed.
He also said that South Korea's K-9 self-propelled howitzer and multiple launch rocket launchers are aimed at North Korea's main military facilities, adding that "Pyongyang is only 150km away."
The remark alluded to the North's often repeated threat that "Seoul is only 50km away and it will be turned into ashes immediately in case of a war."
With regard to the timing of the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops from Washington, Lee said it should be implemented as scheduled on April 17, 2012.
South Korea handed over its military command to the U.S. shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. It regained peaceful OPCON in 1994.
Conservatives argue it is premature for South Korea to regain wartime OPCON.
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N.K. faces worst crisis since 1994 (Korea Herald)
North Korea faces the worst crisis in more than a decade since its founding father Kim Il-sung died in 1994, due to a protracted conflict with the international community over its nuclear ambitions, a report said Friday, according to Yonhap News.
The North will not have enough food to feed its people and its economy will decline in the second half of this year if Pyongyang fails to resolve the nuclear issue, according to the report by the Korea Development Institute, a South Korean state-run think tank.
The report comes amid growing tension on the Korean Peninsula following the North's second nuclear test in May, which drew condemnations and fresh sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.
Last year, the communist country also suspended cross-border tours to Mount Kumgang after a South Korean tourist was fatally shot by North Korean soldiers while vacationing there. She had wandered into a restricted area. The North also detained a South Korean worker at the troubled inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong in late March, accusing him of criticizing its political system.
"With all of these factors combined, the current difficulties confronting North Korea can be compared to conditions back in 1994, when Kim Il-sung died and a nuclear crisis was sparked" the KDI said in the report, which assesses trends in the communist country.
"In the past, the focus was on nuclear disarmament but now it has shifted to a head-on confrontation, with the North demanding it be recognized as a nuclear power and the other five countries (in the six-party talks) unwilling to tolerate the request," it added.
"It will be much more difficult to reach a breakthrough (than it was in 1994)."
Pyongyang has vowed to boycott the six-party talks -- which are aimed at denuclearizing North Korea, and also involve South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan -- in protest of the U.N. sanctions.
The KDI cited the renewed U.N. sanctions and strained inter-Korean relations as reasons for its bleak outlook for the North Korean economy in the second half. Uncertainties surrounding leader Kim Jong-il's health were also mentioned, amid rumors he has developed pancreatic cancer.
"The international community's sanctions will have the most immediate impact on the North Korean economy," the KDI said, adding that the chilled relations between Seoul and Pyongyang will also seriously affect its trade.
Despite reports of a good harvest in the North last year thanks to favorable weather conditions, the KDI worried that a food shortage would still impact many North Koreans "depending on their social status and where they live."
The KDI earlier predicted that the North's total grain production may reach around 4.29 million tons this year, which falls short of the minimum 5.13 million tons needed to feed its 20-plus million people.
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Military Eyes Lowering N.K. Watch Level amid No Signs of Threat (Yonhap)
SEOUL - South Korean and U.S. military officials are mulling over lowering the level of surveillance operations on North Korea amid no signs of an immediate military provocation by the communist country, military sources said Saturday.
Officials at the Combined Forces Command (CFC) said it was considering lowering the "watch condition" by a notch from the current second-highest level, as the latest military intelligence suggests no sign of an immediate threat by the North.
The CFC has maintained the current the level of intelligence collection and monitoring of North Korean military activities since raising "watchcon" to its second-highest level in late May, following North Korea's second nuclear test that was also followed by rounds of missile launches into the East Sea.
The CFC runs a five-stage watchcon. The third level calls for "attentive monitoring" of military activities in the North.
The official said that military officials from the two countries were consulting on the plan to lower watchcon. The plan is expected to be finalized early next week after Gen. Walter Sharp, head of the CFC, returns to South Korea from his trip to the U.S.
South and North Korea are technically in a state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Pyongyang, whose relations with Seoul have rapidly unraveled over the past year, has warned of conflicts along their intensely guarded border.
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