In and Around North Korea: 09 - 15 May 2009

North Korea vows to bolster nuclear power, citing US hostility and US says North

Korea will face ‘consequences’ if it carries out its threats

• On 08 May, North Korea said there is no use in trying to talk with the US an vowe to bolster its nuclear deterrent, citing US remains “hostile” toward it.
  
• Stephen Bosworth, who was visiting South Korea on 08 May, dismissed Nort Korea’s claim saying the US continues its efforts for bilateral and multilateral dialogue with the North. He made clear that if North Korea puts its threats into action, it will face “consequences.”
  
• On 10 May, a South Korean government official said the US has no intension of sending a high-level envoy to North Korea or take any other steps to revive the Six-Party Talks. The official said in a background briefing for reporters on the results of US-ROK consultation with Stephen Bosworth added the US believes that it has done enough to convey its willingness to engage the North in both bilateral and multilateral talks and that “there can be progress in dialogue only when a partner responds (to proposals for talks) and shows interest.”
  
• He said, "They want to kill the six-party talks." When asked if he expected North Korea to carry out another nuclear test, Saymore said, "I think they will. That's what they are threatening to do." He did add, however, he would consider over the next couple of weeks whether to visit North Korea.
  
• Stephen Bosworth returned to the US on 12 May after visiting China, South Korea, and Japan. Originally, Bosworth was scheduled to visit Russia, but cancelled his trip, sending Sung Kim to Moscow in his place.
  

Russia and US calls for resumption of Six-Party Talks

• A Russian diplomat said on 13 May Russia and the US are against putting to much pressure on North Korea, and urged the resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
  
• Foreign Ministry Special Ambassador Grigory Logvinov met with Sung Kim on the same day about the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
  
• The Interfax News Agency quoted Logvinov as saying after the meeting, "We discussed in detail various aspects of the situation, putting an accent on the main thing – the search for solutions should be sought on diplomatic negotiating tracks without too much fuss and without drama, to say nothing of attempts to put pressure."
  
• "The common wish is that the six-party process be resumed one way or another. And all the gains achieved – a great deal has been achieved – must be saved," Logvinov said, "We must not lose what we have done in terms of denuclearization and in terms of starting the effort to lay the groundwork for regional security in Northeast Asia."
  

A US scholar says North Korea may double its plutonium stock in half decade

• Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University professor who has visited North Korea multiple times, said on 13 May North Korea may double its stockpile of plutonium for nuclear weapons by 2013, producing enough for one bomb each year with its existing fuel.
  
• Hecker also said the North may have started work on its 14,000 unused fuel rods as early as this month.
  
• Fuel rods are reprocessed to produce the plutonium needed to build nuclear bombs after undergoing irradiation in a reactor. North Korea reported last year it has 30 kilograms of plutonium in storage.
  
• In retaliation for the UN condemnation of its 05 Apr rocket launch, the North said last month that it was quitting the Six-Party Talks and had begun reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods. Hecker said in an article posted on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, "These 8,000 spent fuel rods could contain as much as 12 kilograms of plutonium.”
  

North Korea claims nuclear weapons serves as deterrent as it continues its rhetoric against the US, commenting on the speech of the Commander of US Forces Korea

• On 12 May, North Korea reiterated that its nuclear weapons are for deterrenc and acquiring the deterrence was “entirely just,” citing the 22 Apr comments by the Commander of US Forces Korea on the US commitment to provide a nuclear umbrella for Seoul.
• The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said “Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, recently blustered that the U.S. would be firmly committed to providing a nuclear umbrella to south Korea, asserting that the 'U.S.-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty' would remain valid even after the transfer of the 'right to command wartime operations' to South Korea.”
  
• The KCNA said the US pressure on North Korea to dismantle its nuke while simultaneously talking about the "provision of a nuclear umbrella to south Korea," is almost tantamount to forcing it to lay down its arms.
  
• The KCNA also said, "It was entirely just for the DPRK to have acquired nuclear deterrent for self-defence to cope with the ever-more undisguised moves of the U.S. for a nuclear war.”
  
• North Korea’s Rodong Shinmun made a similar claim on 05 May.
  

North Korea subordinates the Operations Department and Office 35 under military control

• Sources said on 10 May North Korea has carried out a reshuffle of government organizations, shifting the jurisdiction over its overseas espionage and cash cow operations – Office 35 and Operations Department – from the Workers' Party to the People’s Armed Forces.
  
• The Operations Department is known to train and send agents to the ROK, US, and Japan, but its recent operations are believed to have shifted toward trades of arms, drugs and fake bills. "North Korea's Operations Department handles a large amount of cash through illegal activities such as counterfeiting currency, manufacturing drugs and exporting arms," a source said. "With the Operations Department now under its wing, the North Korean military will have a major source of independent financing."
  
• Office 35 is North Korea's intelligence unit in charge of collecting information from the ROK, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
  

Kim Jong-un apparently increasing his visibility in North Korea

• Open source reporting said on 11 May the third and youngest son of Kim Jong-il has been increasingly visible on official occasions and masterminded the country's major publicity stunts, such as a recent fireworks extravaganza, in an apparent bid to burnish his image as a successor.
  
• Kim Jong-un, who is believed to have been tapped in Jan 09 as the North’s next leader, has been seen making efforts to elevate his reputation by organizing the 15 Apr fireworks show and initiating an economic reconstruction drive, called the "150-day campaign."
  
• The reports contend that Kim Jong-un is responsible for initiating the 150-day campaign,  nationwide movement to rebuild the country's sickly economy by maximizing its labor force during the period. The reports say the labor campaign, which started to appear in North Korean media reports this month, is a copy of the "70-day campaign" his father launched to rev up production amid a global oil price crisis in 1974.
  

North Korea seeks help from PETROBRAS to prospect for oil in East Sea

• On 11 May, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun expressed to Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim North Korea’s interest in receiving assistance in its oil prospecting efforts fro PETROBRAS (Brazilian Petroleum Corporation).
  
• The deposit in question would be the hydrocarbons field in the East Sea (aka Sea of Japan)
  
• Park arrived in Brasilia on a stop during a Latin American tour that included visits to Cuba and Peru.
  
• The ministers also had a “clear” dialogue on controversial subjects, including human rights and the North Korean nuclear program, and Amorim expressed Brazil’s opinion that the North should maintain the Six-Party Talks.
  

Japanese government report says North Korea made progress in extending its

missile range

• The Japanese Defense Ministry has concluded in a report that North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile in April to test and improve its missiles and has made progress in extending their range.
  
• The summary of the report states that the launch of what appears to have been either a Taepo Dong-2 or an improved version could lead to the enhancement of the accuracy of the Rodong medium-range missile, which is capable of striking Japan.
  

North Korea steps up force mobilization along the Northern Limit Line (NLL)

• Since the Jan 09 announcement, North Korea has breached the NLL three times in Feb 09 and Mar 09, said a ROK colonel overseeing Yeonpyeong Island.
  
• "Each ship reached about two to three kilometers into our territory," he said, adding livefire artillery training has also doubled this year along the North Korean coastline.
  
• Stating that the number of sorties by North Korean aircraft rose six times from a year earlier, he said about 100 fighter jets and surveillance airplanes took off from bases south of Pyongyang on 07 Apr, just two days after the missile launch.
  

North Korea sets date for trial of two US reporters

• North Korean state media said on 14 May that two US female journalists detained in North Korea for illegally entering the country will stand trial on 04 Jun.
  
• Analysts suspect North Korea may be following in the footsteps of Iran, which arrested, tried and released a female American journalist amid diplomatic contacts with the US over the past few months.
  
• The Korean Central News Agency said in a one-sentence report, "The Central Court of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea decided to try (the) American journalists on 04 Jun according to the indictment of the competent organ."
  

North Korea tells the South there will be no chance of serious dialogue between the two Koreas

• A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency said, "There simply is no need to even consider holding talks between the North and the South while the Lee Myung-bak group is publicly trying to smear the name of our republic and bluntly denying the republic."
  

Second Kaesong meeting between two Koreas is uncertain

• A ROK government official said, “The government has tried to negotiate with North Korea on the matter of holding a second Kaesong meeting sometime within the week. We see the second Kaesong meeting as necessary to maintaining momentum for inter-Korean dialogue, however, we have not been able to come to an agreement with North Korea about it due to a huge gap in opinions.”
  
• Regarding the agenda, the ROK is demanding to talk about South Korean employee, who has been detained for 45 days by North Korea, as a prerequisite to the discussions about wage and land use fees in Kaesong.
  
• In the afternoon of 15 May, the ROK proposed to the North a meeting next week to discuss the KIC issues to include that of the detained South Korean worker.
  

ROK Ministry of Unification closes North Korea humanitarian aid unit to make room for an North Korean internal politics analysis unit

• On 12 May, the ROK’s unification ministry closed its bureau on humanitarian aid to North Korea and launched a new office designed to better analyze Pyongyang's internal politics as part of the ROK government restructuring and reorganization.
  
• The Cabinet approved the ministry's proposal to shut down its Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau and set up the tentatively-named Political Analysis Bureau, Kim Jung-tae, assistant minister for planning and coordination, said in a press briefing.
  
• Kim explained, "The restructuring aims to strengthen the ministry's long-term unification policy and intelligence analysis and merge overlapped low-level units."
  

South Korea and IAEA meet to discuss North Korea and other pending issues

• Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s deputy director general for safeguards, held a series of meetings with officials at South Korea's foreign ministry, science and technology ministry, and the presidential office in Seoul on 12 and 13 May.
  
• Heinonen arrived in South Korea on 10 May for a five-day stay during which he will also attended a regional forum on implementing an IAEA accord. He met with the Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo, top nuclear negotiator Wi So'ng-rak, and Oh Joon, deputy foreign minister for international organizations, global issues and treaties.
  

ROKAF reports Chinese military tried to hack into the ROK Embassy in the US last

year

• According to an annual publication that details the defense capabilities of global powers, China operates a “Red Hacker” unit of about a million hackers mainly attacking the US, Japan, and Taiwan.
  
• The publication said, the hackers, including those recruited from the US institutes such as MIT, attempted to hack systems at the South Korean Embassy in Mar 08, citing ROK military intelligence.
  
• The case marks the first time the ROK has publicly asserted that the Chinese military has tried to hack into its diplomatic office abroad.
  

In and Around North Korea: May 02 - 08, 2009

A senior US government official mentioned, for the first time, that North korea is likely to conduct a nuclear test before it is forced back to the Six-Party Talks

• President Barack Obama's policy coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, Gary Saymore, said Pyongyang was trying to divide the five other countries involved in the disarmament negotiations and was looking for ways to provoke problems.

• "It's very clear that the North Koreans want to pick a fight," he said at an event at the Brookings Institution on 01 May.
  

• He said, "They want to kill the six-party talks." When asked if he expected North Korea to carry out another nuclear test, Saymore said, "I think they will. That's what they are threatening to do."
  

A Council on Foreign Relations report published last month stated that North Korea already possesses a small nuclear arsenal, but lacks the capability to deploy it

• The report, co-authored by former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, said, “North Korea has already built a small nuclear arsenal and shows no signs of being willing to negotiate it away.”
  

• The report said North Korea, which tested an atomic device in Oct 06, "may not have the ability to deploy nuclear weapons."
  

• The report, also chaired by former U.S. National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, urged Washington to engage in "aggressive diplomacy" to revive multilateral talks aimed at ending the nuclear pursuit.
  

• "Any chance of success with North Korea and Iran will require aggressive diplomacy that fully involves the Obama administration in close cooperation with other relevant international actors," the report said.
  

U.N. Secretary General urges North Korea to return to the Six Party Talks

• On 04 May, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged North Korea to return to the Six-Party Talks, which he described are the best mechanism for peaceful denuclearization of North Korea.

• According to a transcript posted at the U.N. web site, "With respect to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, despite the current serious challenges, I continue to believe that the six-party process is the best mechanism to achieve the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," Ban told the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) Review Conference, held at U.N. headquarters in New York.
  

• Ban said, "I therefore urge the DPRK to return to these talks so that everybody can resolve their respective concerns through dialogue and cooperation, based on the relevant Security Council resolutions as well as multilateral and bilateral agreements."
  

Stephen Bosworth states, after meeting his Chinese counterparts, that the US reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea

• Stephen Bosworth said on 07 May, after holding talks with his Chinese counterparts, that the US hopes to engage bilaterally and multilaterally with North Korea to solve tensions through dialogue.
  

• He said he had "very good" meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, the chair of the Six-Party Talks.
  

• Bosworth said, "We had extensive discussion of where we are and talked about the way forward."
  

• He said, "The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea, and we believe very strongly that the solution to the tensions and problems of the area now lies in dialogue and negotiation."
  

A ROK daily’s analysis says that North Korea’s target of harsh rhetoric has shifted from South Korea to the US and the international community, since the missile launch and the UN Presidential Statement, condemning it.

• The daily's survey showed drastic drop in the North's offensive index against the South from 1,340 in March to 285 in April, whereas the North delivers back-to-back 'nuclear threats' to the United States, which appears to aim at DPRK-US confrontation structure.
  

• A change is being perceived lately in the appearance of North Korea's external offensives. Since the launch of a long-range rocket and the opening of the Supreme People's Assembly in early April, North Korea has resumed contact with South Korean authorities and reduced the level of offensives toward South Korea, while making threats of armed provocation toward the United States and the international community.
  

North Korea releases rhetoric against the United Nations accusing it of being unfair

• On 04 May, North Korea accused the United Nations of being unfair to countries not aligned with the United States, citing its condemnation of Pyongyang's 05 Apr rocket launch as evidence.
  

• The Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency that the Security Council "continues to adopt unjust documents under U.S. instigation," and its Apr 13 presidential statement condemning the North Korean launch is "obvious evidence" of its unfairness.
  

North Korea releases rhetoric against the US, commenting on the speech of the Commander of US Forces Korea

• Between 03 and 07 May, North Korea released a total of five reports denouncing the speech General Sharp, Commander of US Forces Korea, made on 22 Apr. The reports reaffirmed the North Korea’s position that it will retain nuclear weapons “as long as the US continues to provide the nuclear umbrella” for the ROK.
  

• The reports contained the usual rhetoric denouncing the ROK-US alliance, military preparedness, combined exercises, and OPLANs.
  

• These reports appears to convey the North’s justification for its latest threats of additional nuclear test, ICBM launches, and uranium enrichment.
  

North Korean rhetoric against the US focusing on the increase of US defense budget for 2010

• On 06 May, North Korea criticized the US government for raising its defense budget for 2010, saying its huge defense spending prompts Pyongyang to “bolster” its own military force in defense.
  

• US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently unveiled a plan to increase Washington's defense budget 4 percent on-year to US$534 billion for the next fiscal year.
  

• The North said, "Not a small portion of the US defense budget goes to attempts to threaten and invade our country by its military means. To cope with the accumulating military threat from the U.S., it is exceedingly just and indispensable that our nation continues to bolster our self-defense power."
  

North Korea will begin what it calls the “150-Day Battle”, a nationwide campaign to restore its economic infrastructure starting 10 May, the anniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party

• It has been reported that the North Korean authorities have instructed committees of the Party to undertake a “150-day battle” to achieve enhanced production targets. The instruction was conveyed to the entire membership of the Workers Party in a secret letter from the Central Committee of the Party in March.
  

• A source from North Pyongan Province told The Daily NK on the 04 May, “The 150-day battle will progress from 10 May, the foundation day of the Workers’ Party, to 10 Oct. The fundamental aims are the construction of houses, the normalization of farming and railroads and enhancing the activities of local factories and mines.”
  

• The reason why Pyongyang is encouraging members of the Workers Party to embark on the 150-day battle is nothing less than its own salvation; to build a “strong and prosperous state” by 2012 in the current situation where foreign aid is decreasing due to several recent, provocative acts including the missile launch of 05 Apr.
  

An increase of activities on the construction site at Tongchang-ni missile test area as well as at Punggye-ri

• Chosun Ilbo reported North Korea has been speeding up construction of a new long-range missile test site in Tongchangri, North Pyongan Province. And vehicles and personnel are busily moving around in Kilju, North Hamgyeong Province, where the North conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006.
  

• "The North has recently been speeding up construction at the test site in Tongchangri by deploying more equipment and personnel," a South Korean government official said on 06 May. "We expected the North would complete construction sometime late this year, but it now seems that it could be completed several months earlier."
  

• Construction of the test site began eight years ago and was 80 percent complete last September.
  

The US State Department’s announcement that it is reviewing whether to relist North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism

• The United States said on 30 Apr that it was reviewing the status of North Korea to decide whether to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism.
  

• "The State Department is in the process of reviewing the DPRK's status as what they call a not-fully-cooperating country," said Ronald Schlicher, acting coordinator of counterterrorism at the State Department, at a news briefing to mark the release of the department's annual country reports on terrorism. The list does not include North Korea.
  

• "That review is part of a broader process of identifying the countries not fully cooperating," Schlicher said. "And decisions in that whole process, including North Korea, should be coming in the next few weeks."
  

• The annual report said that North Korea "was not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987."
  

North Korea’s renewed warning that South Korea’s participation in PSI will be regarded as a declaration of war and it will bolster its nuclear force in self-defense

• North Korea on 04 May renewed its warning that South Korea's participation in a US-led security campaign will be regarded as a declaration of war and vowed to bolster its nuclear force in self-defense.
  

• The warning has been repeated by North Korea several times since the Seoul government announced its plan in early April to expand its participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. South Korea is currently an observer in the campaign.
  

• The North published in a commentary, "For traitor Lee Myung-bak to speak of full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative is a public declaration of military confrontation against us and of war provocation to invade the North."
  

South Korean Unification Ministry’ announces that that it will close its bureau in charge of humanitarian aid to North Korea

• South Korea's Unification Ministry is set to close its bureau on humanitarian aid to North Korea as part of its restructuring, officials said on 04 May, a move that mirrors frozen political relations.

• The restructuring plan, when approved by a Cabinet meeting on 06 May, will shut down the Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau established in late 1996, ministry officials said.
  

• The bureau has been in charge of sending humanitarian aid to the North, arranging reunions of families separated by the Korean War and assisting with the resettlement of North Korean defectors in the South.
  

South Korean Foreign Ministry announced it has expanded its nuclear task force

• South Korea has expanded its nuclear task force to deal with North Korea's warning that it will conduct a second nuclear test, a foreign ministry official said on 04 May.
  

• The ministry added non-governmental nuclear experts and government officials to the ad hoc unit launched in April last year so as to strengthen its technical analysis, the ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
  

• The expanded task force, led by Seoul's deputy chief envoy to nuclear disarmament talks, Hwang Joon-kook, includes officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, national defense and unification, the National Intelligence Service and the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae as well as think tank experts and scholars, the official said.
  

South, North Korea may meet again about the KIC as early as next week

• A spokesman said on 07 May that South Korea will "soon" respond to the North's proposal to begin negotiations over a joint industrial park, and the meeting may take place as early as next week.
  

• Pyongyang proposed in government-level talks on 21 Apr that the two sides open negotiations to discuss wage hikes and contract revisions for the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong.
  

• "Our government will soon send our proposal on the date," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
  

• "Our government position is that the next talks should be able to ensure the safety of our citizens (in Kaesong) and the stable development of the Kaesong park," Lee Jong-joo, the ministry's deputy spokeswoman, said.
  

North Korea says it is on high alert to deter the influx of the H1N1 influenza and so far there are no cases of the contagion

• North Korea said on 06 May there are no cases of influenza A in the country, but it is on high alert to prevent the inflow of the highly infectious virus found in South Korea.

• North Korea's state media have been quick to report the global epidemic since it was first reported in Mexico late last month.
  

• The Korean Central News Agency said, "With regard to the A-type influenza -- H1N1, swine flu -- rapidly spreading in South Korea, (North Korea) is strengthening quarantine projects on high alert."
  

North Korea's Latest Justification for Keeping Its Nuclear Program

On Apr 22nd, Speaking at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Commander of ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) and US Forces Korea (USFK), General Sharp, stated that the US will continue to offer South Korea protection under its nuclear umbrella after the 2012 transfer of wartime operational control. General Sharp stressed to the group that “the Mutual Defense Treaty will remain effective" after the transfer, and that the US and ROK militaries, although separated after the Apr 12 transfer, will continue to operate according to one military operation plan, and not two.

On May 3rd, North Korea’s Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) released a report commenting on General Sharp’s Apr 22nd speech (KCNA headline: “US and Lee Group’s Reckless War Moves Under Fire”). The report referenced a Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland’s press statement released earlier in the day.

Accusing the U.S. and the Lee Myung-bak group of frantically kicking up rackets of confrontation with the DPRK and a war of aggression against it, getting vociferous in describing the DPRK's satellite launch for peaceful purposes as a sort of "provocation, threat and violation of a UN resolution" and the like, the statement went on: The present situation goes to clearly prove that the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK has not changed at all and that the Lee Myung-bak group is a group of wicked traitors and warmongers keen to impose a nuclear war disaster upon the Korean nation in collusion with outside forces. 

Now that the sinister intention of the U.S. and the south Korean puppets playing the role of a shock brigade for it has been brought to bold relief, the DPRK will go straight in the direction of bolstering up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence as it had already clarified.

The U.S. and the Lee group had better stop at once their reckless moves for a war, properly understanding who their rival is.

The timing of this report seems to be in part a response to the UN Security Council’s position that it has no intension of retracting its adoption of the presidential statement or apologize for the adoption. Further, it also appearstobe a response to the US position that it will not provide any aid to North Korea unless the North stops its provocations and return to the Six-Party Talks, that the US will only conduct direct bilateral negotiations through the Six-Party forum, and that the US will review the status of North Korea to decide whether to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

North Korean Endgame: Working toward Full Political and Economic Relations

A continuing leitmotif of North Korean regional foreign policy is to establish full political and economic relations with the US – including a peace treaty between the two countries.  This goal has been a centerpiece of North Korea’s foreign policy with the US since the signing of the Agreed Framework on 21 Oct 94.  North Korea cites Paragraph II of the 1994 Agreed Framework as the basis of its argument whenever it claims that the US is not living up to “agreed” commitments regarding North Korea.  Recent North Korean events such as the missile launch, withdrawal from the 6PT, and threats to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods, conduct a 2nd nuclear test and additional ICBM launches are all designed to cajole the US into bilateral negotiations, paving the way for an eventual normalization of bilateral relations.

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In and Around North Korea: April 25 - 1 May, 2009

North Korea reconfirms to Russia its decision to withdraw from the Six Party Talks

• According to the North Korean foreign ministry, top North Korean officials reaffirmed their country’s decision to quit the Six-Party Talks during a meeting with the visiting Russian foreign minister on 24 Apr.

• The unidentified North Korean spokesman said, "the Russian side reconfirmed its stand against U.N. sanctions against North Korea and paid attention to North Korea's stand that there is no need to hold the six-party talks any longer.”
  

North Korea says it resumed reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods

• North Korea said on 25 Apr that it has restarted extracting plutonium from spent fuel rods.
  

• The announcement by the North's foreign ministry came just hours after the UNSC froze foreign assets of two firms and a bank in North Korea over their suspected ties to missile and nuclear programs.
  

US Secretary of State says US will not be “blackmailed”

• Responding to North Korea's purported reactivation of its plutonium-producing facilities, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on 25 Apr that Washington wants dialogue with Pyongyang, but the communist country should first retract its brinkmanship.
  

• "We're not going to be blackmailed by the North Koreans," Clinton said during her surprise visit to Baghdad.
  

• "We're going to crack down in conjunction with the Chinese, the Russians, the Japanese, the South Koreans and other allies to try to ... tighten the band around North Korea so that they cannot do that," Clinton said.
  

• The secretary emphasized, however, that Washington wants to talk with Pyongyang to resolve the crisis. The Secretary said, “We hope that we will be able to resume discussions with North Korea that will lead to their assuming responsibility for denuclearizing the peninsula.”
  

US will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-weapons state

• The United States will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed country, State Department spokeswoman Megan Mattson said on 25 Apr, "We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-weapons state."
  

• "The United States remains committed to the six-party goal of the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner through the six-party talks," the spokeswoman said.
  

• The United States will "seek full implementation of the Sept. 19, 2005 Joint Statement under which North Korea committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and return, at an early date, to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA safeguards," she added.
  

South Korea urges North Korea to rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

• Seoul officials on 27 Apr reiterated call for North Korea to return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during the international NPT meeting in May.
  

• South Korea will send Oh Joon, Deputy Foreign Minister for International Organization, Global issues and Treaties, to the Third Preparatory Conference for parties to the NPT, which will be held from 04 – 15 May in New York.
  

• Moon Tae-young, the South Korean foreign ministry spokesman, said earlier in the day the forthcoming NPT meeting is meaningful as it comes as US President Obama seeks to bolster the regime.
  

U.S. hints at bilateral talks with North Korea due to idled Six-Party Talks

• On 30 Apr, the United States hinted at its willingness to engage in bilateral nuclear negotiations with North Korea amid slim chances that the North will return to the Six-Party Talks.
  

• The US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, "If we have to look at other options, diplomatic options, we certainly will."

• Wood added, "There is skepticism about the North's intentions, and it doesn't appear likely that the North, at least from the signs we have seen so far, is willing to return to the negotiating table."
  

North Korea vows “merciless strike” against the US

• North Korea marked the 77th anniversary of the Korea People’s Army (KPA) on 25 Apr with vows of a “merciless strike” against the US and its allies, which it accuses of attempting an invasion.
  

• The national event for the KPA follows a UN action to sanction the North for its 05 Apr rocket launch.
  

Lavrov says Russia is ready to begin projects to launch North Korean satellites

• Russia is ready to begin projects with the North Korean on launching its satellites with the help of Russian boosters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his South Korean colleague Yu Myung-hwan.
  

• "Russia is cooperating with many countries in aerospace, including launches of satellites by our boosters, including with South Korea. We are ready to work with North Korea on developing similar projects," Lavrov said.
  

Sources say Kim Jong-il’s third son is appointed to a post in the National Defense Commission

• Multiple sources privy to North Korean affairs said Kim Jong-il has appointed his third son, Kim Jong-un, to a post in the National Defense Commission (NDC), apparently a sign of being groomed as the North’s next leader.

• "Kim Jong-un had been appointed to a low-level post, called 'instructor' at the National Defense Commission days before the first session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly meeting was held" on April 9, the source said.
  

• Another source also said that Jong-un works at the commission, but that his exact post remains unconfirmed.
  

South Korean president says South Korea-Russia gas deal will help North Korea

• President Lee said on 25 Apr a tentative deal to pipe natural gas from Russia via North Korea would greatly benefit the North and help it become a member of the international community.
  

• South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia in September to pay $90 billion to import 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year - a fifth of its need - for 30 years after 2015 via the pipeline from eastern Siberia.

• "If the project succeeds, a great amount will be paid to North Korea and it will offer them a big help," Lee told the visiting Russian foreign minister.

• "Such efforts will improve relations with the North and also help North Korea become a member of international community... I believe the North will be also interested," Lee said.
  

Stephen Bosworth says US is has no immediate plans to strengthen sanctions against North Korea

• US special envoy to North Korea Stephen Bosworth has told a group of families of Japanese abductees that the U.S. has no immediate plans to strengthen its sanctions against Pyongyang.

• After a meeting with the envoy at the US State Department on 27 Apr, Shigeo Iizuka, the head of the group, told reporters that there were some differences of opinion.
  

• In the meeting, the Japanese group reportedly asked Washington to beef up sanctions against Pyongyang and put the North back on its list of state terrorism sponsors.
  

• Bosworth, however, said the US has no intention of imposing additional sanctions at the moment, adding that additional sanctions would most likely have no effect on the North in regards to the abductee issue.
  

Secretary Clinton says US will not give aid to North Korea without nuclear talks in progress

• Secretary Clinton said on 30 Apr that the US government will not provide economic aid to North Korea unless Pyongyang stops making nuclear and missile threats and returns to the Six-Party Talks.
  

• "We have absolutely no interest and no willingness on the part of this administration to give them any economic aid at all," Secretary Clinton told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.
  

• She said, "They are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole with the international community."
  

US urges North Korea to improve human rights record

• The US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, "We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in [North Korea]."
  

• "We will continue to press [North Korea] to improve its human rights record," said Wood.
  

• Wood's remarks coincide with the observance of North Korea Freedom Week.
  

UN Security Council Sanctions Committee sanctions three North Korean companies

• The UNSCSC called for a freeze of assets of three North Korean companies it says are involved in the arms trade, as well as updating a lengthy list of items that North Korea will now be prohibited from either importing or exporting.
  

• The sanctions committee designated the Korean Mining Development Trading Corporation and Korea Ryonbong General Corporation, as well as Tanchon Commercial Bank as subject to an asset freeze.
  

• Sanctions Committee Chairman, Turkish Ambassador Baki Ilkin, said the committee also agreed to update a long list of items N. Korea will now be forbidden to import or export.
  

• Diplomats close to the talks said those items are basically the same ones that are included in the Missile Technology Control Regime and include certain rocket systems, missile-related components and related technology.
  

• Amb. Yukio Takasu said his government is very pleased that the council made what he called an 'extraordinary' effort.
  

• "I hope that this unity of the council could send, I hope, a good signal to rest of world, because a decision by the sanction committee is binding upon member states," the GOJ Amb. Said.
  

• All 192-member states of the United Nations are obligated to enforce the sanctions committee's designations of goods and entities - whether they will or not remains to be seen.
  

North Korea threatens to conduct nuclear and ICBM tests

• North Korea says it will conduct nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests if the United Nations Security Council does not immediately apologize for its condemnation of the North's recent rocket launch.
  

• In a 29 Apr statement, the North's Foreign Ministry said it will also start building a light-water reactor and develop technology to produce nuclear fuel, implying that it will begin its uranium enrichment program.
  

South Korea will propose to North Korea for talks next week

• According to a Blue House official, South Korea plans to propose holding talks with North Korea next week, most likely on Thursday, on issues concerning the Kaesong Industrial Complex as the North demanded at the inter-Korean meeting last week.
  

Stephen Bosworth due in South Korea next week

• The top American envoy on North Korea plans to visit South Korea late next week as part of his regional trip aimed at exploring ways to persuade Pyongyang back into the denuclearization process.
  

• "We are in consultations with the US for Special Representative Stephen Bosworth's trip to Seoul next week," the official said, "An exact schedule has yet to be decided, but he is likely to come here in the latter part of the week."
  

• He added that Bosworth will also visit other related countries including Japan, China, and Russia, but it is uncertain whether he will also travel to North Korea.
  

In and Around North Korea: 18 - 24 April 2009

Last US Official leaves North Korea

• The last US official in North Korea involved in the management of the disablement operation of the Yongbyon nuclear facility left the country on Saturday, 18 Apr (KST). The official returned to Washington via Beijing.
• The departure of the US State Department official came a day after four US nuclear experts who were at the Yongbyon nuclear complex left the country due to North Korea’s expulsion order.
• Note: The four IAEA inspectors left North Korea on Thursday, 16 Apr (KST).

Director General of the IAEA says North Korea is a nuclear-armed state

• Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, was quoted as saying it is “a matter of fact” that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, “I don’t like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state. [But] we have to face reality.”
• According to the press reports, ElBaradei counted North Korea among nine nuclear powers in the world.
• ElBaradei’s reported view on North Korea stands in contrast to those of South Korea and the United States.
• South Korea downplayed ElBaradei’s statement and vowed launch an international campaign aimed at frustrating North Korea's ambition to become a nuclear state.

Secretary Clinton calls on North Korea to return to Six-Party Talks

• “We have made it clear that we are prepared to resume the Six-Party Talks,” Secretary Clinton told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
• “The Chinese and Russians, the Japanese and South Koreans have equally made that clear. As you know very well, the North Koreans have not demonstrated any willingness to resume the Six-Party process,” she said.
• Pyongyang has claimed to be a nuclear state since it detonated a nuclear device in its first-ever nuclear test in 2006.

South Korean foreign minister urges North Korea not to worsen situation and rejoin the Six-Party Talks

• South Korea's foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan urged North Korea on 23 Apr to stop raising tension and rejoin the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear program.
• "I can't help expressing serious concern that North Korea is rejecting the international community's agreement and further damaging all the accomplishments in the Six-Party Talks," Yu said during his monthly press briefing.
• The UNSC’s 15 member states, meanwhile, are working on a list of North Korean goods and entities to face sanctions as a follow-up to its earlier presidential statement - a sanctions committee is supposed to finalize the list by 24 Apr.
• About a dozen North Korean companies engaged in the trade of weapons of mass destruction and related materials are expected to be subject to the measure.

China disavows nuclear energy cooperation with North Korea

• China on 20 Apr disavowed any kind of cooperation with North Korea in nuclear energy development, and urged a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear disputes.
• "China has never had any cooperation with North Korea in nuclear energy development," Wang Yiren, head of China's Atomic Energy Authority, told reporters at a nuclear energy conference in Beijing.
• Wang said China had always endorsed peaceful solutions, such as dialogue and negotiation, to resolve nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea says nuclear war only a matter of time

• North Korea said on 17 Apr the outbreak of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is only a matter of time due to what it claims are efforts by South Korea and the United States to bring it to its knees by force.
• The bulletin was issued by the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a state organization that handles inter-Korean relations.
• The accusation was aimed at a recent inspection of the South Korean and US Air Forces by the American commander of Combined Forces Command, Gen. Walter Sharp, and his South Korean deputy, Gen. Lee Sung-chool
• An official at the CFC dismissed the accusation as groundless, saying the recent flight by CFC commanders was only part of a routine inspection.

Rodong Shinmun says Kim Jong-il “confesses fatigue due to economic drive”

• North Korea’s party mouthpiece said on 17 Apr Kim Jong-il has confessed he's struggling with the grinding pace of his activities but keeps pushing himself onwards out of responsibility for the fate of his homeland.
• The 67-year-old leader, now back in control after a reported stroke last summer, has significantly increased his economy-related visits this year, making 49 such trips as of Friday, 17 Apr, compared to 19 last year and 17 in 2007.

North’s military strengthens its grip

• South Korean intelligence source said, North Korea’s military has bolstered its authority over several key policy-making issues after a major restructuring of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party.
• The moves, experts say, create a bit of a power shift by eroding the influence of the North’s ruling party in several areas, including matters involving the South.
• The restructuring also diminishes the roles of some party members who have taken a more conciliatory stance on affairs with the South - a source said the changes could explain a recent increase in bellicose statements coming from the North.
• According to sources, the Workers’ Party has moved its operations department to the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, which handles management and operational control of the North Korean military.
• “Though it has been in the party’s organizational tree, the operations department had been essentially carrying out military tasks,” a source said - the operations department is responsible for managing espionage agents.
• “When the department head, O Kuk-ryol, was named a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission in February, the department itself was shifted to the armed forces ministry in what seemed to be a logical step,” the source said.
• In another change, the party’s research department and external liaison department will now be under the control of the National Defense Commission.
• The research department collects intelligence on South Korea and other nations, while the external liaison department is responsible for training and dispatching agents.
• Only the Unification Front Department remains within the Workers’ Party to handle inter-Korean dialogue and the North’s policy on the South, and experts say it has lost much of its influence.

Russian foreign minister Lavrov has arrived on 23 Apr for a two-day visit to North Korea to discuss bilateral relations and the North Korean nuclear program

• Russia has repeatedly called on North Korea to get back to the negotiation table.
• There are no signs of a breakthrough in the crisis over the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's denuclearization; a Russian news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying after his talks with his North Korean counterpart Thursday, 23 Apr.
• ''We don't expect any breakthroughs yet. It's a difficult process,'' Lavrov was quoted as saying - Lavrov arrived in Pyongyang earlier Thursday, 23 Apr.
• Russian media also quoted Lavrov as saying the countries involved in the process should not yield to emotions.
• ''All the parties involved in the process must focus on the necessity to seek the solutions that would allow for resuming this process,'' he was quoted as saying.
• According to the news agency, Lavrov will also meet with Kim Yong-nam, the country's number two and president of North Korea's parliament, and may also meet with Kim Jong-il during his stay in the country.
• North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported that Russia and North Korea signed a plan for cultural and scientific exchange Thursday - Lavrov is to visit South Korea after his stay in North Korea.

Seoul caught in ‘PSI trap’ and foreign minister says “leave the decision to the government”

• On 22 Apr, South Korea reaffirmed its intention to fully join the US-led counter-proliferation regime, but remained undecided about the timing and conditions.
• Seoul had deferred its declaration of full membership in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) until after talks with North Korea over their joint industrial complex in the city of Kaesong.
• On 23 Apr, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan reiterated that the government would "handle" the issue of formally announcing full membership in the PSI, "Please leave that matter to us," Yu said.
• South Korean officials had reportedly said the government would issue the announcement sometime over the weekend.
• Regarding the latest confusion over the announcement date, the minister said it was a misunderstanding caused by excessive media exposure.
• Yu added that the decision was revealed much too prematurely, before last-minute policy adjustments could be made.

North Korea’s ‘missile factory’ used Japanese parts

• A former senior Indian official said on 18 Apr that Japanese precision tools and steel were founf in missile-making equipment taken from a North Korean freighter detained at an Indian port in June 1999 while en route to Pakistan.
• While North Korea is known to have provided missile knowhow to Pakistan in return for nuclear weapons technology, this is the first concrete example of how Japanese equipment has played a part in North Korea's proliferation of missile technology.
• Indian authorities believe North Korea acquired the Japanese products through China or other countries.
• At India's request, the US, Russia, South Korea and other members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, an informal association of countries seeking to curb missile proliferation, sent experts to examine the ship's cargo.
• By analyzing Korean-language documents and sensitive equipment confiscated, the MTCR experts concluded the ship was carrying missile-assembly equipment and missile parts - engineering diagrams of missiles were also found.
• The ship's 44 crew members were detained by Indian authorities and later repatriated to North Korea.

North Korea says it will try detained US journalists

• North Korea said on 24 Apr that it will put on trial two US female journalists detained near its border with China on 17 Mar, announcing that its investigation into their “crimes” has been concluded.
• The journalists – Euna Lee and Laura Ling – were filming a documentary about the plight of North Koreans fleeing the country into China when they were arrested by North Korean border guards.
• On 31 Mar, Pyongyang said that an investigation was under way and that it was preparing to indict them on charges of illegally entering the country and engaging in unspecified “hostile acts.”
• “A competent organ of the DPRK concluded the investigation into the journalists of the United States,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a two-sentence report.
• “The organ formally decided to refer them to a trial on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them,” it said, without specifying charges.

South, North Korea quickly ends first talks; North Korea says it will reconsider the terms of Kaesong Industrial Complex

• South and North Korean officials met at Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) on Tuesday, 21 Apr, for their first talks in more than a year, but the meeting ended quickly, the South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
• After a delay of more than 12 hours due to procedural disputes, the talks lasted only 22 minutes.
• North Korea told the South that it will consider ending benefits for South Korean firms at the KIC, including low wages for North Korean employees, a South Korean government source said.
• South Korea said it will carefully review North Korea’s demand to raise land use fees and revise contracts at the KIC.
• The proposed measure, if actualized, is expected to deal a serious blow to more than 100 South Korean firms operating in Kaesong.
• Under a contract signed between Hyundai and the North Korean government in 2000, South Korean firms pay their North Korean employees between 70 – 80 USD on average a month, by the wages are wired directly to North Korean government.
• The annual wages last year amounted to 26 million USD, according to the South Korean Ministry of Unification data.
• North Korea also said it will begin charging land fees starting next year – North Korea initially set a 10-year grace period on rent when the complex opened, allowing the South Korean firms to use it land in Kaesong for free until 2014.
• On 22 Apr, South Korean government said it would consider holding further talks with North Korea on the KIC but was still reviewing demands the North made during a short meeting the day before.
• According to a Blue House source, the North said on 21 Apr that it wanted to meet with the South again within a week; the source said the North urged the South to set the next date “as soon as possible.”
• On 24 Apr, North Korea warned it may take “stronger measures” against South Korean firms operating in the KIC unless Seoul responds favorably to its latest demands to revise key operational contracts of the complex.
• North Korea also said that all preferential treatment offered to South Koreans in Kaesong could possibly be reconsidered as long as the South Korean government’s pro-US “confrontational” policies continue to endanger the inter-Korean cooperation project.
• Note: There has not been any open source reporting on the date of next meeting between the North and the South.

Diplomats from both Koreas to sit at Havana Forum

• The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (NAM) will be held in Havana from 27 – 30 Apr.
• North Korea is a member of the organization of 118 states.
• South Korea said it will dispatch a director general-level official at its foreign ministry as an observer to attend the opening and closing ceremonies only – South Korea has taken part in the meeting since 1997 as a guest.
• "There is a possibility that North Korea will use the upcoming meeting to protest the international community's punitive step, reiterating its stance that the launch was aimed at sending a satellite into orbit," a South Korean foreign ministry official said.
• South Korea will try to counter the North's move to include its claim into a formal statement to be issued at the end of the meeting, the ministry's spokesman, Moon Tae-young, said in a press briefing.

Chinese fishing boats return near tense Korean sea border

• Chinese fishing boats have returned to waters near the Koreas' western sea border, where North Korea has repeatedly warned of an armed conflict with the South.
• Chinese boats disappeared from the area earlier this year when North Korea said it would no longer respect the Northern Limit Line (NLL) that had served as a de facto West Sea (Yellow Sea) border with S. Korea for decades.

South Korea and Japan sign defense pact

• The South Korean Ministry of National Defense said that South Korea and Japan signed a letter of intent on bilateral defense cooperation on 23 Apr, the first formal military pact between the two neighboring countries.
• Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee signed the letter with his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada.
• According to the ministry, the letter covers goodwill exchanges of top defense officials and military units from the two nations, exchanges between defense institutes, institutionalization of joint search-and-rescue operations, reciprocal visits by aircraft and naval ships, and joint international peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

Commander of US Forces Korea raises concerns over North Korean artillery threat

• Commander of US Forces Korea (USFK) said on 22 Apr that North Korea possesses "the world's largest artillery force" that could wreak havoc on Seoul should the communist state decide to provoke a full-fledged conflict.
• The comments by GEN Sharp come as tension rises on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea reminded South Korea last week that its densely populated capital is "only 50 km away" from the border, suggesting its vulnerability.
• Speaking to a group of business leaders, GEN. Sharp disclosed in a presentation in Seoul that North Korea is believed to have 13,000 frontline artillery guns that could "rain on Seoul" and maintain 80,000 special forces.
• GEN Sharp said, "North Korea has an old but very large military that is positioned in a very dangerous place, very close to the Republic of Korea."
• "They have a very large special operating force. It has the world's largest artillery force that is positioned as far south as possible and that can rain on Seoul today."
• GEN Sharp said his forces and South Korea are prepared to "fight and win" at any moment, stressing they "have operational plans prepared in order to be able to meet any contingencies.

GEN Sharp signals 'allies prepared for North Korean instability’

• GEN Sharp signaled on 22 Apr that the American and South Korean militaries are becoming better prepared to face instabilities in North Korea.
• "We are working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman GEN Kim Tae-young ... in case there is great instability in North Korea and are we prepared for that," GEN Sharp said during a speech at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Further stressing that the US will continue to provide security after the 2012 transfer of wartime operational control, GEN Sharp said the Mutual Defense Treaty will remain effective so that Seoul will remain under Washington's nuclear umbrella.
• The commander stressed that the United States and South Korean militaries, although separated after the April 2012 transfer, will continue to operate according to the same military operation plan.
• Once the control transfer is completed, the South Korean military will assume the leading role in national defense.
• The commander said the US – South Korea alliance has actually become stronger following North Korea's missile launch on 05 Apr.
• GEN Sharp said, "With that launch, the alliance is stronger today than before the launch. We practice on a daily basis on how to prepare for any type of crisis on the peninsula."

In and Around North Korea: 11 - 17 April 2009

I've missed posting these weekly posts for the past two weeks, and for that I do apologize; however, it's been an interesting few weeks, and I think I have more than ample reasons that I could name why it's been so interesting. You know, like....Taepodong-2 ballistic missile... Six-Party Talks (or lack there of), etc.

Anyway, without further due, here's this week's wrap up...



North Korea withdraws from Six-Party Talks in Response to the UNSC presidential Statement

• Responding to the United Nations Security Council’s presidential statement condemning its recent rocket launch, North Korea announced on 14 Apr that it will resume its nuclear weapons program and will never again take part in the Six-Party Talks.

• North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement through the state-run Korean Central News Agency “flatly rejecting” the UN statement, which was unanimously adopted at a meeting on 13 Apr.

• “[North Korea] will take the measure for restoring to their original state the nuclear facilities which had been disabled under the agreement of the Six-Party Talks and putting their operation on a normal track and fully reprocess the spent fuel rods churned out from the pilot atomic power plant as part of it,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement said.

• “Now that the six-party talks have turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of [North Korea] and seeking to force [North Korea] to disarm itself and bring down the system in it,” the statement continued.

• “[North Korea] will never participate in the talks any longer nor it will be bound to any agreement of the six-party talks,” it said.

• The international community, including the five Six-Party Talks participating countries, has urged North Korea to reverse its decision and return to the Six-Party Talks swiftly.

North Korea Orders IAEA and US Nuclear Monitors in Yongbyon to Leave

• On 14 Apr, North Korea ordered ordered U.S. nuclear experts engaged in disablement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and International Atomic Energy Agency staff monitoring the work to leave the country.

• The order was issued a day after the UN Security Council adopted a statement condemning North Korea's recent rocket launch, which prompted the North to vow to further reinforce its nuclear deterrence and withdraw from the Six-Party Talks.

• In Vienna, the IAEA announced later that its personnel have been denied further access to the Yongbyon facilities and asked to leave the country ''at the earliest possible time.''

• Pyongyang also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel, according to the IAEA.

• On 16 Apr, the IAEA monitors departed North Korea and the US inspectors left the Yongbyon nuclear facility for Pyongyang.

Top North Korean Legislator Warns of Punishment against America and South Korea

• On 14 Apr, Kim Yong Nam, top legislator of North Korea, warned that his country would mete out "unmerciful punishment" if the United States and South Korea "start a war."

• "Grave obstacles are lying in the way of the country's reunification due to the reckless moves of the conservative authorities in America and South Korea for a war of aggression against the DPRK," Kim said.

• He warned that if the United States and South Korea ignite a war, all the DPRK people would display the invincible spirit and powerful war deterrent for self-defense and mete out "merciless punishment."

North Korea Marks Anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s Birth amid Tensions

• North Korea celebrated the 97th birthday of its late founder, Kim Il-sung, on 15 Apr as regional tensions mounted after its withdrawal from nuclear disarmament talks.

• At one of the gatherings, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and North Korea's ceremonial head, accused the South Korean government and the United States of attempting an invasion against the North.

• "If the US and the anti-reunification aggressor forces of South Korea ignite a war on this land in the end," Kim Yong-nam said, "all the service persons and people will display the invincible spirit and powerful war deterrent for self-defense and mete out a merciless punishment to the provocateurs and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification."

Rodong Shinmun releases Photos of National Defense Commission for the First Time

• On 16 Apr, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency obtained a copy of 10 Apr issue of the North Korean party newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, which carried, in an unprecedented move, photos of all members of North Korea’s National Defense Commission that was elected on 09 Apr.

• Rodong Sinmun ran color photos of Kim and other National Defense Commission members on its front page, in a break from its tradition in which only a few important figures were publicized. Analysts said this unprecedented move may suggest a significant rise in the Commission’s status within the North Korean regime.

• Kim Jong-il began his new term as chairman of the National Defense Commission in a parliamentary meeting on 09 Apr, when he also named 12 other members of the commission, including his brother-in-law, Chang So’ng-t’aek (Jang Song-thaek).

• Analysts in South Korea said Chang’s advance to the commission, which was previously dominated by senior military officers, indicated the North Korean leader has groomed the husband of his only sister Kim Kyong-hi as a “number two man.”

• Seoul officials said Kim has considerably bolstered the National Defense Commission, increasing the number of its members to 13 from eight and bringing in new members from outside the military.

Japan, US Call For Freezing Assets of 14 North Korean Entities

• Japan and the US submitted their respective lists of entities that should be subject to the UN sanctions.

• All of the 14 groups are already subject to sanctions implemented by either or both of the countries on their own.

• Of the 14 North Korean organizations, 11 were named by both Japan and the United States, including exporters of equipment related to ballistic missiles, the sources said - the three other entities were named only by Japan.

• The 11 entities that were on the US list were Korean Mining Development Trading Corp., Korea Yongbong General Corps, Tanchon Commercial Bank, and eight subsidiaries of Korean Mining Development Trading Corps. and Korea Yonbong General Corp.

• The Sanctions Committee is set to designate target North Korean entities based on the Japanese and US lists.

• It remains to be seen whether the committee can obtain consent to the Japanese and US lists from all of its members, including representatives from China and Russia.

• Once the designation is agreed, all UN member states will be obliged to freeze assets of target organizations.

UNSC Unanimously Condemns North Korea Launch in Presidential Statement

• The U.N. Security Council adopted a nonbinding presidential statement on North Korea's 05 Apr rocket launch, which unanimously ''condemns'' the action as a ''contravention'' of a resolution banning North Korea from all missile-related activities.

• The statement was a weaker response to the rocket launch, which was seen widely as a disguised test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile, than a binding Security Council resolution Japan had intensely lobbied for but failed to persuade other council members to support in the wake of strong opposition from China and Russia.

• The presidential statement said the Security Council ''condemns'' the launch and the action is ''in contravention of Security Council Resolution 1718."

• That wording is stronger than the expression of regret China had earlier insisted on using in the statement.

• The statement said North Korea “must comply fully with its obligation under Resolution 1718,” adopted in October 2006 following its nuclear test - it also demands North Korea ''not conduct any further launch."

• It "calls upon all member states to comply fully with their obligations under Resolution 1718," which bans North Korea from all ballistic missile activity and calls for the international community to stop trading weapons and luxury goods with North Korea.

• The statement requests that the Security Council sanctions committee established to deal with Resolution 1718 designate additional goods subject to a trade embargo against North Korea and entities whose assets are to be frozen due to suspected activities related to nuclear weapons and missile development.

• It asks the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea to report to the council by 24 Apr on the companies, items, and technologies to be added to the list.

• If the committee fails to act, it says the security council itself will then come up with a list by 30 Apr.

• The statement also calls for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

• Beijing had initially proposed a nonbinding press statement, which is even weaker than a presidential statement as it is read out only to the press by the Security Council president.

• In the wake of the stalemate with Japan, China proposed a presidential statement, which is read out inside the global body's chamber.

• The Security Council issued a press statement after North Korea test-fired an intermediate-range Taepodong-1 ballistic missile in Aug 98.

• The council adopted a resolution demanding that North Korea suspend all missile-related activities after it launched seven ballistic missiles including a Taepodong-2 missile in Jul 06.

• Countries involved in the Six-Party Talks, with the exception of China, were supportive of the statement.

• In response to the UNSC presidential statement, on 14 Apr, North Korea announced that it will withdraw from the Six-Party Talks and restart its nuclear development programs.

South Korea says Nine North Korean Ships Subject to PSI in International Waters

• A total of nine North Korean ships are subject to possible inspection if they pass through international waters, as they are registered with countries affected by a US-led anti-proliferation drive, Seoul officials said on 14 Apr.

• Among ships operated by North Koreans, only nine of them are registered with applicable nations - Belize and Mongolia - and thus are subject to PSI operations in international waters, government officials said.

• North Korea's other internationally-registered vessels are checked in with Cambodia, China and Honduras, which are not PSI members and do not have ship-boarding pacts with the US, the officials said.

• In territorial waters, however, PSI participants may examine any suspicious North Korean ship regardless of its registration.

• The PSI has 94 member states, including 15 core countries – Russia and Japan are full participants.

• North Korea has warned it would regard South Korea's entrance into the PSI as a declaration of war.

• Seoul and Pyongyang signed a bilateral shipping treaty in 2005 to allow commercial ships to use their territorial waters.

• Under the agreement, they may stop and interdict ships suspected of carrying illegal materials but can only expel them in case of violation – the PSI grants the right to seize violators.

North Korea Eliminates Symbolic Agency

• A North Korean agency dealing with inter-Korean economic cooperation appears to have been removed.

• Following North Korea's cabinet reshuffle at the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly on 09 Apr, most ministers and heads of government agencies were retained during the opening session of the assembly.

• But the National Economic Cooperation Federation was not on the list of ministries and agencies.

South Korea says North's detention of South Korean Worker 'Serious'

• South Korean government views North Korea's prolonged detention of a South Korean worker as "serious" and will consider taking action should North Korea continue to refuse access to him, a spokesperson said on 13 Apr.

• North Korea detained the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp. on 30 Mar in Kaesong, where a joint industrial complex developed by the South Korean company is located.

• South Korean officials said the detained worker should not remain isolated and that he has the right to be represented by an attorney under inter-Korean accords on joint economic ventures. The accords guarantee "basic rights" for South Korean workers detained by the North.

South Korean Activist send Leaflets to North Korea

• North Korean defectors floated leaflets across the inter-Korean border into North Korea on 15 Apr, calling for the ousting of leader Kim Jong-il as North Korea marked the 97th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birthday.

• Nine defectors shouted "Down with Dictator Kim Jong-il!" as they released ten huge balloons carrying 100,000 flyers at Imjingak in South Korea, just south of the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korea Lacks Financial and Technological Abilities to Build Light Water Reactor

• North Korea has threatened to build light-water nuclear reactors again but most experts believes Pyongyang is bluffing to gain an advantage in negotiations with the United States. This is because the North has no economic or technological capacity to build such a reactor on its own.

• Jun Bong-keun, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul, told Dong-A Ilbo on 14 Apr, "North Korea has no capacity to build a light-water nuclear reactor on its own. It is also impossible in many respects for the North to purchase and operate light-water reactor parts from other countries."

• Above all, the construction of such reactors requires state-of-the-art technology, something which the North sorely lacks, Jun said. Only the US, Japan, Russia, France, and South Korea has the technological capacity to build light-water reactors, he added.

South Korean Media Criticize Repeated PSI Delay, Claim Moderates Prevail

• On 16 Apr, South Korean dailies across the political spectrum chided the government for putting off the announcement of its full participation in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) for the third time since North Korea's 05 Apr rocket launch, with some raising concerns about the negative impact it may have on the government's image.

• The South Korean government's official stance was that the announcement was put off to "finish internal procedures and consultations with related countries." However, most dailies speculated that it actually owed to concerns over further aggravation of inter-Korean relations, the safety of the US and South Korean nationals detained in North Korea, the possibility of Pyongyang restricting or closing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and the significance of 15 Apr for North Korea.

South Korean War Ship begins Convoy Duties off the Coast of Oman

• The 4,500-ton Munmu the Great, carrying a crew of 300, started escorting a 12,000-ton South Korean cargo vessel, Pine Galaxy, in the Gulf of Aden, said Col. Lee Hyoung-kook of the South Korean JCS overseas troop deployment bureau.

• The destroyer is able to protect up to six vessels at a time but will normally escort one to three ships, he said.

• About 500 South Korean cargo ships sail throughout the piracy-stricken Gulf of Aden every year, and some 150 of them are categorized as vulnerable to hijacking given their size and speed, he added.

• Last month, South Korean dispatched the Cheonghae Unit to the coast off Somalia, the first-ever overseas naval deployment.

• The Korean contingent consists of the KDX-II destroyer, a Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, rigid inflatable speedboats and 30 UDT/SEAL forces and an explosive ordinance disposal team among its personnel.

• The KDX-II destroyer is equipped with a Mk. 45 127mm gun, Harpoon ship-to-surface missiles, RAM Mk 31 ship-to-air guided missiles, a 30mm Goalkeeper system for engaging sea-skimming anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.

Hang on folks...here we go again...

So, the "good guys" were all congratulating each other on a job well done after formally announcing the adoption of the UNSC Presidential Statement condemning North Korea for launching its rocket on April 5th. The "bad guy" in this story, of course comes back with "I am going to take all my toys and go home, and you can't stop me." routine. Does this sound somewhat familiar? It should be. We've been down this road many, many times before.

So, North Korea announced today that it will pull out of the Six-Party Talks and will begin working on its nuclear program again (like it has ever really stopped -- at least we have no idea that it has ever really stopped).

This is not same lyric different tune...even the tune is the same....

Things are getting more and more interesting over here...we'll see what all shakes out at the end.

Well, due to some time constraints, I have to stop here today. More on this later, so stayed tuned.

Minerva could do 18 months in prison

Remember Minerva? No? Remember the blogger, supposedly a 31-year-old who self-taught economics and predicted the collapse of Lehman Bros? OK…well, anyway, he could face up to 18 months in jail if the Korean prosecutors office has it its way.

Minerva’s (his real name Park Dae-sung) crime: “falsely reporting that South Korea had barred banks from purchasing US currency.” Apparently the blogger will find out his fate on April 20th for posting the “inaccurate” story, which the prosecutors claim undermined the country’s credibility. Read The Associated Press report here.

I have to say, Minerva was just another blogger. I surf and read numerous blogs daily, and I even have a blog of my own. Some blogs are better than others, and some are very insightful, of course, written by some of the most renowned experts in their fields, but we all know we can’t believe everything we read or see on the Internet. I’ve posted some analytical pieces on my blog before and I intend to continue to do so in the future. I also expect the blogs I read everyday to continue to provide me the valuable insights. So, what happens when some of us get it wrong one day? I wonder what the Internet police will do then. Though I figure the Internet police will probably let us be. After all, matters of regional security, such as North Korean long-range missile program or the continuous expansion of Chinese influnce throughout Asia, and things like terrorism or pirates on the high seas are not that important when compared to something that hits much closer to home…like...wallet and authority.

Now, I, of course, don't think Park is really the blogger Minerva, but that is a whole different story that requires much more time and much, much, much more alcohol before I even think about touching...

So...the satellite is not in orbit...but the rocket worked...

It seems that the North Koreans have failed to put the satellite, Kwangmyhongsong 2, into orbit yesterday. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) officials said in a statement that North Korea launched a Taepodong 2 missile was launched at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 04 (11:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 05 Korea Standard Time), but no object entered orbit (contradicting the North Korean claim that the satellite entered orbit at 11:29:02 a.m. on Sunday). The statement said, “Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan…NORAD and USNORTHCOM assessed the space launch vehicle as not a threat to North America or Hawaii and took no action in response to this launch.”

Whether the North’s satellite was successfully deployed or not, one thing is for sure – North Korea now knows that it has the technology to build a working long-range ballistic missile, which should elevate the North’s worth among countries such Iran, Syria, and the like. Oh, just in case you were wondering, Iran officially denies it had any involvement with North Korea on the development of the said missile technology – who would have thunk it.

And on an interesting note, North Korea’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) announced on Monday, April 6, that Kim Jong-il visited the satellite command center Sunday to observe the launch of the North Korean rocket, and celebrated the successful orbiting of a communications satellite. KCNA said, Kim Jong-il, accompanied by Secretary Jon Pyong Ho and First Vice-Department Director Ju Kyu-chang of the central committee of the North Korea's ruling Workers Party, expressed great satisfaction over the scientists and technicians who "successfully launched the satellite with their own wisdom and technology." It said that Kim also stressed "the need to bring about a new turn in conquering outer space and making peaceful use of it."

Along with its announcement, KCNA also released a photo of Kim Jong-il, which was supposedly taken at the General Satellite Command and Control Center on April 5, where Kim watched the rocket launch from beginning to the end.

Rocket Launch: North Korea's Latest Attempt at Blackmail

Today at 4:22 p.m. (Korea Standard Time), North Korea confirmed its rocket launch earlier that morning, saying that "communications satellite Kwangmyongsong 2 (Bright Star 2)" has successfully entered into orbit. North Korea stated that the rocket was launched at 11:20 a.m., and the satellite entered orbit at 11:29:02 a.m. Although North Korea stated this afternoon that the rocket was launched at 11:20 a.m., the South Korea Presidential Office announced this morning at 11:46 a.m. that the rocket was launched at 11:30:15 a.m. during a post-launch press briefing. As of now, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency says the "neighboring countries monitoring the launch have "no evidence yet" to prove North Korea's claim, according to a senior Seoul official said on condition of anonymity."

At 4:22 p.m., North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a report that stated, "Scientists and technicians of the DPRK have succeeded in putting satellite Kwangmyongsong 2, an experimental communications satellite, into orbit by means of carrier rocket Unha 2 (Milky Way 2) under the state long-term plan for the development of outer space." The KCNA report claimed the three-stage rocket Unha 2 blasted off from a launch pad located in Musadan-ri, North North Hamgyeong Province, (on the country's northeast coast) at 11:20 a.m. and put the satellite safely into orbit 2 seconds past 11:29 a.m. The report also said that the Kwangmyongsong 2 satellite is now following an "elliptic orbit, at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1 426 km apogee," adding its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds. The KCNA said, "the satellite is going round on its routine orbit. It is sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans Song of General Kim Il-sung and Song of General Kim Jong-il and measured information at 470 MHz. By the use of the satellite the relay communications is now underway by UHF frequency band." It added, "the carrier rocket and the satellite developed through our indigenous wisdom and technology are the shining result of efforts to develop the nation's space science and technology on a higher level." The KCNA report also said today's space launch will boost the country's campaign to build a strong nation by 2012 as it "seeks to become a great, prosperous and powerful nation" by that year -- 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il's father. It added, "this is powerfully encouraging the Korean people all out in the general advance."

According to a Yonhap report, a South Korean government official stated, "the South Korean government assumes the North Korean rocket was a space vehicle, not a missile, but it is not yet known whether it was carrying a satellite and whether it entered orbit as North Korea claims." He also said, "it has not been confirmed yet whether the North Korean report is true or not."

Today's launch itself has been in development since February 3, when the South Korean Yonhap news reported that North Korea is preparing to test fire its long-range missile. North Korea's position has been that it is launching an experimental communications satellite. Japan, South Korea, and the United States have been insisting that the North Koreans are using the rocket launch as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test. World Leaders (with the exception of the Chinese -- China said "it has taken notice of North Korea's rocket launch," and it urged all relevant parties to maintain "cool-headedness and restraint."urges all parties to maintain restraint over the matter." -- and the Russians) have criticized the launch as being provocative and in violation of the UNSC Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind.

Looking back, we can link today's event to January 13, 2009, when a spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that the US should first normalize relations with North Korea as a precondition for its denuclearization and that it will hold onto its nuclear weapons as long as the US backs South Korea with its own atomic arsenal. The statement also demanded that if “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the issue to be settled only when the DPRK shows nuclear weapons,” then North Korea must be able to also verify the presence of nuclear weapons in South Korea as well and that the same rule should be applied to US troops stationed in South Korea. I have to believe that today's event was planned well before January 13, but I really think this was the first glimpse of North Korea's well planned campaign to conduct today's launch. I wrote about the likelihood of North Korean ballistic missile test in a piece I wrote and posted on my blog earlier this year.

Really, to me, when I look at today's event, the core of the issue is not whether North Korea launched a satellite or tested a ballistic missile. The core of the issue is that North Korea is behaving this way to blackmail the United States and the international community so that it can benefit from it.

From Korea Report: "We Are One!"-- Really?

Korea Report posted a segment on April 1st titled "We Are One!" Here's what it says:

"We Are One!"

The phrase in this large banner that unfolded in the inter-Korea, pre-World Cup soccer match in Seoul says "We are one!" -- indicating the desire for the Koreans to be reunified, despite the current chill in inter-Korea relations. To Koreans, although these inter-Korea sporting matches lend themselves to international competitions with fierce rivalry, they also provide opportunities to ponder the need for reconciliation and reunification of Korea. [Photo from The Voice of the People]

I wanted to stay clear of this, but this one, I just could not stay away. The above posting says "...indicating desire for the Koreans to be reunified..." Let's stop and think for a moment what this posting is actually saying. I have no doubt that both North Koreans and South Koreans would like to have an unified Korean Peninsula; however, I have grave doubt that those who live north of the DMZ see themselves as being one people with those who live in the South. It leads me to wonder...did anyone from the South ask a North Korean lately if he/she feels like they are one people (off the TV cameras and away from the media, I mean).

South Koreans tend to look at North Korea with feeling of nostalgia and have a misplaced belief that North Koreans are long lost cousins who have lost their ways who needs saving from the South. They do not recognize North Korea as a separate entity, and tend to be more emotional rather than rational (of course, I can understand why that would be).

North Koreans, on the other hand, see themselves as their own people, with their own unique history, heritage, and culture. When North Koreans talk about North and South Koreas, they talk about them in terms of two completely independent countries with two completely different forms of government that happen to share a common language and history prior to 1948.

Looking at the inter-Korean relationship from a third-party point of view, it is easy to see why South Koreans can never be in the "driver seat" when it comes to the inter-Korean issues. Inter-Korean relationship and policies can never achieve their desired effects as long as the South Koreans insist that North Korea is a long lost part of themselves and insist on dealing with the North with emotion rather than rational thoughts. Faster the South Koreans admit to themselves that the North and the South is NOT one (and that North Korea does not see itself as being a cousin/brother/friend of South Korea); that they have vast gaps in all areas that they have to work out before they can ever become one; faster it will be for South Koreans to be able to start examining critically the issues related to the future of the inter-Korean relations and begin working toward solutions that will be beneficial over the long term for both sides.

I guess the Korea Report posting on this subject is correct about one thing after all -- It did give me a chance to stop and think, albeit for a very short period of time, about the future of inter-Korean relations and the future of the Korean peninsula.

Now, as for the media outlet cited by the Korea Report (The Voice of People), that is a whole different subject that will require too many alcoholic beverages to be consumed before I would even want to touch it. So, you'll have to find out on your own about what kind of outlet it is for now (the outlet's web address is on the photo).