North Korea in combat mode

[American Patriot]

U.S., South Korea open war games; North Korea in combat mode


Yonhap / European Pressphoto Agency

U.S. Navy soldiers arrest mock infiltrators during joint military exercises with South Korea, which began today in Jinhae.
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[COLOR=#333333 ! important]Hostilities peak on the peninsula as the United States and allies also await North Korea's testing of a long-range missile and the North cuts off military communications to the South.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#999999 ! important]By John M. Glionna and Ju-min Park
10:02 AM PDT, March 9, 2009 [/COLOR]
Reporting from Seoul -- The U.S. and South Korea today began annual war games involving tens of thousands of troops, prompting North Korea to call its military into "full combat readiness," saying it views the joint land and sea exercises as a prelude to an invasion.

The hostilities raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest point in weeks as the U.S. and its allies anxiously awaited North Korea's test launch of its most advanced long-range missile.

• Photos: U.S.-South Korea war games
  
  

North Korean officials late last week declared that the isolationist nation could not guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger jets flying near its airspace during the 12-day exercises.

Several airlines immediately announced that they would avoid North Korean airspace as a precaution. North Korea also cut off a military hotline, leaving North and South without means of communication during the escalating brinkmanship.

South Korea today expressed regret over the suspension of what it called a crucial channel of contact. Officials said 726 South Koreans also were barred from crossing into North Korea to the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex.


"We, the government, feel sorry that North Korea continues to take regrettable measures, although we are reacting with patience," said South Korea's Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon.

Meanwhile, U.S. military officials here tried to diffuse tensions while stressing that the exercises, which will be larger in scale and duration than in previous years, would go on as scheduled.

"The primary goal is to ensure the command is ready to defend the [Republic of Korea] in the event it becomes necessary," said U.S. Army Gen. Walter L. Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea.

He insisted that the war games were "a routine training exercise that takes place every year at about the same time. It is not tied in any way to any political or real-world event."

Stephen Bosworth, the new U.S. envoy on North Korean issues, met today with South Korean officials. The former U.S. ambassador to Seoul arrived Saturday for four days of meetings at the end of an Asian tour that also took him to Beijing and Tokyo.

Bosworth said today he knew a tough job lay ahead.

"I have no illusions about what I have agreed to do. It is a very difficult mandate," he told South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Usually testy in response to what it sees as provocations from the administration of hard-line South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, North Korea proclamations have become more belligerent.

Experts say North Korea is particularly incensed at suggestions made by the U.S. and Japan that they could if necessary shoot down any long-range test missile launched by North Korea.

North Korean officials have said they are planning to launch a communications satellite and today threatened that they would view any outside interference as an act of war.

The military will "deal merciless retaliatory blows at them," if outside forces intrude on North Korea by "even one inch," said a North Korean news agency. "The Lee Myung-bak group of traitors and the U.S. and Japanese aggressors would be well advised to behave with discretion."

North Korea has the world's fifth-largest military, with its armed forces estimated to number more than 1 million.

The U.S.-South Korea military exercises, called Key Resolve-Foal Eagle drills, will involve 26,000 U.S. servicemen, including 13,100 stationed outside South Korea, and will also involve several U.S. destroyers and the aircraft carrier John Stennis.

Experts here say verbal bombast is expected from North Korea when it feels under threat.

"The U.S. and South Korea do this military exercise annually and historically North Korea has been oversensitive," said political scientist Kim Seung-hwan, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said the impoverished nation normally resorts to words over weapons. "It costs a lot of money, such as in gas, fuel and observation," he said. "North Korea has used its hostile rhetoric over military drills."

North Korea's reported plans to test fire its Taepodong-2 missile also come at a crucial time. The last test launch in 2006 was a failure and the regime of hard-line ruler Kim Jong Il believes it needs a successful launch to boost public opinion, experts say.

On Sunday, North Korea held parliamentary elections, and new members are scheduled to reelect Kim as leader in early April.

Pyongyang watchers say the government might also at that time announce the appointment of Kim's third son, Jong-un, to succeed his father, who has reportedly suffered several debilitating strokes.

john.glionna@latimes.com

Park is with the Times' Seoul bureau.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,6470939.story

[vector7]

NKorea threatens 'war' over satellite shootdown

19 hours ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday its armed forces are "fully combat ready" and that they will retaliate against any attempt to intercept its planned satellite launch, which neighboring goverments suspect might be a missile test.

The harsh rhetoric came as the United States and South Korea kicked off annual war games involving tens of thousands of troops, which the communist nation has condemned as preparations for an invasion.

The joint drills across South Korea began as concerns mounted that Pyongyang could be gearing up to test-fire a long-range missile capable of reaching U.S. territory. North Korea says what it plans to launch is a communications satellite, but neighboring governments believe it is a cover for a missile test.

"If the enemies recklessly opt for intercepting our satellite, our revolutionary armed forces will launch without hesitation a just retaliatory strike operation not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds of the U.S. and Japanese aggressors," the general staff of the North's military said in a statement.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war," said the statement, carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

U.S. and Japanese officials have suggested that they might shoot down a North Korean missile if it's deemed necessary.

The North's military also ordered all personnel to "be fully combat ready" so that they could "deal merciless retaliatory blows" at the enemy, KCNA said in a separate dispatch.

The United States and South Korea have conducted annual military exercises a few times a year for decades, and Pyongyang has routinely condemned them as rehearsals for invasion.

In the run-up to the drills that began on Monday, the North has also stepped up its war rhetoric. Claiming the maneuvers pose grave threats to its security, the North last week threatened South Korean passenger planes flying near its airspace.

Seoul and Washington have repeatedly said the drills, which involve involving its 26,000 military personnel in South Korea, an unspecified number of southern soldiers and a U.S. aircraft carrier, are purely defensive.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[American Patriot]

We need to shoot that thing down as soon as it ranges over the ocean.

[Toad]

We'll just call it a spontanious anti-missle joint training operation with Japan.

[vector7]

Pyongyang to Launch 'Satellite' on April 4-8

By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

North Korea has informed international organizations of its plan to launch a ``satellite'' soon, the North's Central News Agency said Thursday, with intelligence sources saying the launch could be made between April 4-8.

``We've informed the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization and other international bodies of the necessary information for the safe navigation of planes and ships as part of efforts to prepare for launching the Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite, by carrier rocket Unha-2,'' the agency reported, without mentioning a date for the launch.

The North also recently joined international treaties on space exploration, including the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, the report said.

South Korean spy agency officials say they have information showing the North may launch what it claims is the satellite between April 4-8.

``North Korea has told international bodies that it will launch the Kwangmyongsong-2 between April 4-8,'' a source said.

The announcement follows weeks of reports that Pyongyang was preparing to launch a long-range missile from a base on its east coast. The North partly confirmed the reports, arguing it was seeking to send a communication satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space program.

However, South Korea and other neighboring countries believe the satellite launch may be a cover for the test-firing of a long-range missile that can theoretically reach Alaska.

``Basically we think the North is now trying to test-fire a long-range missile,'' Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told lawmakers Thursday.

South Korea is carefully monitoring whether North Korea will launch a missile and will continue to urge the North to stop raising tension, the minister said.

``Our government will calmly and resolutely deal with any measures North Korea may take, putting priority on the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the safety of our citizens staying in the North,'' Hyun said.

Earlier this week, the U.S. intelligence chief said North Korea appeared to be moving toward a satellite launch as it claimed.

``The North Koreans announced that they were going to do a space launch, and I believe that that's what they intend,'' National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told a Congress committee.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday urged North Korea not to launch a ballistic missile, proposing to hold talks on North Korea's missile program as well as six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Washington, Clinton stressed the ``need to have a conversation about missiles,'' adding, ``We would like to see it be part of the discussion with North Korea.''

``I think that our partners in the six-party talks on the North's nuclear program are concerned about the missile launch. They are willing to address it, if it does happen, with us, in a variety of ways, including the Security Council,'' she said.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr

[vector7]

Clinton Speaks of 'Options' to Respond to North Korea's Missile Launch

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken of several "options" to respond to North Korea should it move ahead with a rocket launch. Clinton added that taking the issue to the UN Security Council was one possible action.

Her remarks to reporters in Washington came after her meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who she said shared her views against a North Korean missile launch. Meanwhile the U.S. State Department has taken issue with Pyongyang's aggressive stance, accusing the reclusive regime of raising regional tensions.

During a regular press briefing session, State Department Spokesman Robert Wood also rejected fresh accusations by North Korea of joint war preparations with Seoul.

[vector7]

Japan warns it may shoot down North Korean satellite launcher

• Pyongyang says response would be act of war
• Regional tensions rise over missile launch

Justin McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk,
Friday 13 March 2009 12.39 GMT

Japan today threatened to shoot down a satellite that North Korea plans to launch early next month if it shows any signs of striking its territory.

Tokyo's warning that it would deploy its multibillion-dollar missile defence system raised tensions in the region after North Korea said that it had identified a potential "danger area" near Japanese territory along the rocket's flight path.

The regime told the International Maritime Organisation that the missile would be launched during daylight between 4 and 8 April, and that its boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan – about 75 miles (120km) from Japan's north-west coast – and the Pacific Ocean.

Officials in Tokyo said they reserved the right to destroy any threatening object in mid-flight, despite North Korean warnings that it would consider such a move an act of war.

"Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our security," Takeo Kawamura, the chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.

Despite repeated assurances from Pyongyang that the rocket is a vital part of North Korea's space programme, other countries in the region suspect the hardware is a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.

South Korean intelligence has reported a build-up of activity in recent days near the missile's launch pad at Musudan-ri base on its neighbour's north-east coast.

Any missile launch, even one intended to put a satellite into orbit, would represent a snub to the US administration, which has repeatedly invited the communist state to return to negotiations over its nuclear weapons programme.

Last month the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged the north to cancel the launch, which US officials say would be in violation of a 2006 UN security council resolution.

The South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement: "If North Korea goes ahead with the launch, we believe there will be discussions and a response by the security council on the violation of the resolution."

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said a missile or satellite launch would "threaten the peace and stability in the region."

After Japan's transport ministry ordered airlines and shipping companies operating in the area to take precautionary measures, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said they would alter flight paths on several European and other routes.

Speculation has been mounting for weeks that North Korea was about to put its hitherto unreliable missile technology to the test. The regime suffered a setback in 2006 when a Taepodong-2 missile – theoretically capable of reaching Alaska – blew up moments into its flight.

Japan has intensified efforts to protect itself against conventional missile attacks since 1998, when the north test-launched a long-range rocket over its territory without warning.

In response, Japan and the US have jointly developed a ballistic missile defence system that includes interceptor missiles on board ships and Patriot missiles dotted around Tokyo.

But experts believe that a rocket capable of launching a satellite into orbit may be too high to intercept.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

[Beetle]

At least somebody has some cajones.

How do you say cajones in Japanese?

[American Patriot]

日本語

[Beetle]

Hey Rick,

You must be some kind of genius. If it wouldn't be a waste of a good man, we would offer you up to the politcal arena.

[American Patriot]

ROTFLMAO

I've been telling you folks for years I'm a genius.

Why the hell would I go into politics?

(I used BableFish and translated your spelling in ENGLISH to JAPANESE... there's no spanish to japanese translator I could find! HAHAHA)

[Beetle]

Apparently Rick,

I am the only one smart enough to figure out you are a genius.

Hey,

you don't hav to know all the answer, just where to go get all the answers. That is genius too.

[Toad]

" Kintama " is the slang equivelent to " balls ".

Lived there 3 years and was married to a Japanese-American for 13. She put my kintama through the wringer at the end.