NORTH KOREA PREPARE FOR WAR

last SG · 2003-03-24T23:06:50+00:00

S. Korea: Iraq War Led to N. Korea Shift North Korea eyes economic rescue with diplomacy shift South Korean president confident of peaceful solution to nuk...

duotiga83 SG

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=516&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20030322/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_us

U.N. Envoy: N. Korea Preparing for War
1 hour, 7 minutes ago

By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - North Korea (news - web sites) is preparing for possible war with the United States and is concerned about Washington's intentions after its attack on Iraq (news - web sites), said a U.N. envoy who returned Saturday from the North.

North Korean officials say missile tests and other recent steps that have unsettled its neighbors were meant as preparation for such a conflict, said Maurice Strong, a Canadian aide to Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites). Strong was visiting Pyongyang as part of U.N. efforts to mediate the North's nuclear crisis with the United States.

South Korea (news - web sites) put its military on heightened alert this week, and on Saturday the North retaliated by canceling economic talks scheduled for next week. That could mean it will also suspend more important inter-Korean talks next month aimed at easing nuclear tensions.

The United States says it wants a peaceful settlement to the dispute. But the U.S. war in Iraq is getting intense study from North Korean officials, Strong told reporters.

"They are watching it very carefully and with deep concern, and questioning what this means in terms of the U.S. ultimate intentions toward them," Strong said.

Asked whether North Korean leaders feared they would be the next target of U.S. military action after Iraq, Strong said, "Fear I do not believe is in their vocabulary. Concern, yes, real determination to seek a peaceful settlement. At the same time, preparation for war, if necessary."

Strong did not say specify how he knew about the military preparations, and gave no details.

He said officials expressed "deep concern for the threats that they perceive to their own security, and a determination to defend their security and their integrity."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been high since Washington said in October that the North had admitted starting a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement.

Strong said he met with "very senior people," but wouldn't give their names or other details. He said he was conveying "guidance and information" between the two sides but couldn't discuss it before he reports to Annan.

Both Washington and Pyongyang have said they want a peaceful settlement, and Strong said North Korean officials expressed optimism that one was still possible.

But Washington has rejected the North's request for direct talks, saying instead other governments must be involved a condition that Pyongyang has rejected.

"Until those discussions occur, the risks that the process will degenerate, without the intent of either party, into a conflict still remain," Strong said.

Washington and Pyongyang, which fought on opposite sides in the 1950-53 Korean War, have never had diplomatic relations.

With the United States focused on Iraq, experts fear North Korea might use the opportunity to test a long-range missile or reprocess spent nuclear fuel to make atomic bombs. That would be viewed as an attempt to force Washington into direct negotiations.

Asked whether North Korea might try to use tensions over Iraq to try to force a compromise, Strong said, "I don't think forcing the U.S. is anything they realistically consider. They want the U.S. to engage them in direct negotiations."

The two Koreas had planned to begin talks in Pyongyang Wednesday to discuss ways of boosting economic cooperation. Topics included opening territorial waters to commercial ships from each side.

The South put its military on heightened alert Thursday, saying it wanted to guard against any effort by Pyongyang to raise tensions during the Iraq war. The North reacted by calling off the meeting.

"When our dialogue partner is threatening us with a dagger, we have no option but to conclude that we must delay the talks," said Pyongyang's state-run Central Radio, which was monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

foga SG

oh my god!!!
not again??
peace brudders....

duotiga83 SG

dun ask mi...ask the politicians in UN.... Rolling Eyes

cHeR|sH^LoVe SG

if liddat.. very soon.. ww3 le… all countires slowly join in..

duotiga83 SG

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200303/21/eng20030321_113706.shtml

KCNA Warns of Possible Nuclear War on Korean Peninsula
The large-scale joint military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea have made the situation on the Korean Peninsula more tense and a nuclear war may break out at any moment, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)said on Friday in a commentary.

The large-scale joint military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea have made the situation on the Korean Peninsula more tense and a nuclear war may break out at any moment, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)said on Friday in a commentary.

Timed to coincide with the US military attack on Iraq, which began on Thursday, the military exercises prove that the United States is implementing its strategy of fighting two regional wars at the same time as part of its efforts to dominate the world, said KCNA, the official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

With use of massive numbers of troops and modern military equipment, and the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in a South Korean port, the March 4-April 2 Foal Eagle and the March 19-26 RSOI joint exercises by the United States and South Korea are the largest yet, and are intended to threaten and stifle the DPRK by force, the commentary said.

While staging exercises by air, sea and land, the United States focuses its aerial strategy by mobilizing fighter-bombers and stealth fighters around the Korean Peninsula. This means that it is going to "mount a preemptive attack on nuclear facilities in the DPRK and take it as an opportunity of escalating the war."

As the US strategy of mobilizing international pressure failed to work on the DPRK, it is turning to military means, the commentary pointed out.

The United States has turned down the DPRK's proposal for a non-aggression treaty and staged the largest ever military exercises directed against the DPRK. The exercises drive the military situation on the Korean Peninsula to the "brink of a nuclear war", it said.

The DPRK will increase its self-defense capacity and eliminateany aggressors at a single stroke, the KCNA warned.

duotiga83 SG

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1F9F69F1-AFCC-46EA-912F59AEC3DB551D&title=North%20Korea%20Warns%20of%20Nuclear%20War&catOID=45C9C78B-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C

Asia Pacific North Korea Warns of Nuclear War
VOA News
21 Mar 2003, 13:28 UTC

North Korea says tensions on the Korean peninsula have put the region on the brink of nuclear war.

The official Korean Central News Agency issued the warning Friday, as U.S. and South Korean war games took place off the peninsula's southeastern coast. During those exercises, fighter jets and helicopters raced across the sky, while amphibious assault vehicles loaded with troops hit the beach amid controlled explosions on shore.

South Korea's Defense Minister Cho Young-kil said the North also was conducting drills. But Mr. Cho said there was no sign of military provocation from across the border.

The United States and South Korea say their war games are strictly defensive in nature, and are not related to the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program. That standoff has heightened tensions since last October, when Washington said Pyongyang acknowledged having a secret nuclear weapons program.

North Korea continues to maintain that the United States plans to attack the North. But the Bush administration has repeatedly said it wants to resolve the standoff through dialogue.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters

duotiga83 SG

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?story_id=216725&class=your%2Bsay

Asian nations jittery over North Korea
Charles Whelan
Friday, 21 March 2003

AS THE United States focuses on war against Iraq, jittery Asian nations are casting a wary eye on North Korea, to many a more clear and present danger than Saddam Hussein.

During its five-month stand-off with the United States, North Korea has ramped up tension at regular intervals through action and rhetoric.

Threatening to turn South Korea into a "land of ashes", firing off missiles into the Sea of Japan and predicting "nuclear war at any moment", the Stalinist North Korea has maintained a level of menace that has unnerved the region and exasperated the United States.

A consensus is growing among analysts that North Korea will seize on the Iraq war as a chance to raise the stakes further, seeking to force the unwilling United States to bow to its demands by perhaps testing a ballistic missile or even carrying out a nuclear test.

Japan and South Korea have called for stepped-up vigilance, both fearing North Korea's next move, and China, without singling out North Korea, has cautioned against any steps that would escalate the crisis. US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Pyongyang on Tuesday, March 18, that provocation during the coming war would be a mistake.

"It should be clear to North Koreans right now that while we look at these provocations with concern they are not going to provoke us into a bad policy choice and the world should be united on this one," he said in Washington.

North Korea sees matters differently, and what Washington views as provocation, Pyongyang sees as a bargaining tool.

"Expect a lot more bellicose talk and more efforts to raise tension," said Yu Suk-Ryul, of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, affiliated to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

On the day Bush gave Saddam 48 hours to quit Baghdad or face war, Pyongyang called on South Koreans to join with the North to launch a "vigorous struggle" to expel US troops from South Korea.

Tension has been building on the Korean peninsula since last October when the United States accused North Korea of running a secret nuclear-weapons program based on enriched uranium in contravention of a 1994 agreement.

The Pyongyang government has demanded face-to-face talks with the United States to defuse the crisis, but Washington insists the stand-off can be solved only in multilateral talks.

North Korea has ramped up pressure on Washington to come to the negotiating table by expelling UN inspectors, firing up a reactor at its mothballed Yongbyon nuclear plant, withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and firing missiles into the Sea of Japan.

North Korean fighters intercepted a US spy plane in international waters off the North Korean coast in another escalation of the crisis.

Seeking the highest price from the United States in the form of concessions for scrapping its weapons drive, North Korea will watch the unfolding Iraq conflict ready to seize any chance to drive a harder bargain, according to a South Korean government analyst.

"North Korea has a few more cards to play. And the remaining cards are more serious than the ones used before," says the analyst, who would not be named.

He says North Korea will quickly choose one of a number of options: test-firing a ballistic missile, starting to reprocess plutonium from spent fuel rods, launching a border skirmish, or even carrying out a nuclear test.

Professor Yu says the longer the war lasts, the better for Pyongyang.

"Maybe they will start reprocessing spent fuel to produce nuclear weapons.

That is a big card for North Korea, and I am convinced they are going to use it,'' Professor Yu said. ''Then they will just let the tension rise, one notch at a time." AFP

duotiga83 SG

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/6/030447-1556-010.html

N. Korea likely to exploit war in Iraq, analysts warn

By Michael Zielenziger
Knight Ridder Newspapers
March 21, 2003

SEOUL, South Korea -- The U.S.-led war against Iraq is likely to speed North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear warheads or launch another provocative act to force Washington to the bargaining table, analysts here warned Thursday.

Reflecting the government's consensus, a senior foreign ministry official, who asked not to be named, said: "Some sort of brinkmanship to induce negotiations" is likely from secretive North Korea leader Kim Jong Il now that American missiles are targeting Saddam Hussein. "They want to accelerate the pace of dialogue."

The remarks underscored a widespread fear that by focusing U.S. military and diplomatic efforts on Iraq, the Bush administration is ignoring a far more dangerous threat to U.S. security. Bush so far has refused to engage North Korea in direct negotiations.

Analysts predict that the North Koreans might even set off an underground nuclear test to step up the pressure on the United States and make clear to the world that it possesses nuclear weapons and must be taken seriously.

Whatever the tactic, North Korea is expected to exploit the situation in Iraq.

"For the time being, the North Koreans, while threatening to test-fire missiles, will wait and see, gleefully gloating over the sight of the Bush administration becoming an odd man out in the Western camp," said Kim Myong-cho, a Tokyo-based researcher with close ties to Pyongyang. "The end of the Iraq war will find the North Korean nuclear arsenal expanding," while U.S. support is draining away, he predicted.

"There's a lot we don't know about North Korea and what it might do," cautioned Robert Gallucci, the former State Department official who negotiated the 1994 Agreed Framework with Pyongyang under which it stopped developing plutonium for nuclear warheads.

foga SG

peace brudders....

duotiga83 SG

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81868,00.html

U.N. Envoy: N. Korea Readying for War, Worried Washington May Target Them Next

Saturday, March 22, 2003

BEIJING North Korea is preparing for possible war with the United States and is concerned about Washington's intentions after its attack on Iraq, said a U.N. envoy who returned Saturday from the North.

North Korean officials say missile tests and other recent steps that have unsettled its neighbors were meant as preparation for such a conflict, said Maurice Strong, a Canadian aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Strong was visiting Pyongyang as part of U.N. efforts to mediate the North's nuclear crisis with the United States.

South Korea put its military on heightened alert this week, and on Saturday the North retaliated by canceling economic talks scheduled for next week. That could mean it will also suspend more important inter-Korean talks next month aimed at easing nuclear tensions.

The United States says it wants a peaceful settlement to the dispute. But the U.S. war in Iraq is getting intense study from North Korean officials, Strong told reporters.

"They are watching it very carefully and with deep concern, and questioning what this means in terms of the U.S. ultimate intentions toward them," Strong said.

Asked whether North Korean leaders feared they would be the next target of U.S. military action after Iraq, Strong said, "Fear I do not believe is in their vocabulary. Concern, yes, real determination to seek a peaceful settlement. At the same time, preparation for war, if necessary."

Strong did not say specify how he knew about the military preparations, and gave no details.

He said officials expressed "deep concern for the threats that they perceive to their own security, and a determination to defend their security and their integrity."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been high since Washington said in October that the North had admitted starting a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement.

Strong said he met with "very senior people," but wouldn't give their names or other details. He said he was conveying "guidance and information" between the two sides but couldn't discuss it before he reports to Annan.

Both Washington and Pyongyang have said they want a peaceful settlement, and Strong said North Korean officials expressed optimism that one was still possible.

But Washington has rejected the North's request for direct talks, saying instead other governments must be involved -- a condition that Pyongyang has rejected.

"Until those discussions occur, the risks that the process will degenerate, without the intent of either party, into a conflict still remain," Strong said.

Washington and Pyongyang, which fought on opposite sides in the 1950-53 Korean War, have never had diplomatic relations.

With the United States focused on Iraq, experts fear North Korea might use the opportunity to test a long-range missile or reprocess spent nuclear fuel to make atomic bombs. That would be viewed as an attempt to force Washington into direct negotiations.

Asked whether North Korea might try to use tensions over Iraq to try to force a compromise, Strong said, "I don't think forcing the U.S. is anything they realistically consider. They want the U.S. to engage them in direct negotiations."

The two Koreas had planned to begin talks in Pyongyang Wednesday to discuss ways of boosting economic cooperation. Topics included opening territorial waters to commercial ships from each side.

The South put its military on heightened alert Thursday, saying it wanted to guard against any effort by Pyongyang to raise tensions during the Iraq war. The North reacted by calling off the meeting.

"When our dialogue partner is threatening us with a dagger, we have no option but to conclude that we must delay the talks," said Pyongyang's state-run Central Radio, which was monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

duotiga83 SG

we wan....but look ard the world...it dun seems 2.... Rolling Eyes

foga SG

sadly true....
god bless those fighting for their peace...

Parka SG

War....It's just a sick game sick people play......

Atobe SG

The NECESSITY of WAR !

To PRESERVE the PEACE - contradictory ?

Not so contradictory, when you have to depose dangerous schizo leaders of any country that develop Weapons of Mass Destruction FOR SALE to other schizos, who have no capacity to do so.

To bring BALANCE to the POPULATION SIZE of the WORLD

War brings self-attrition and a return of "NATURAL" balance to the population size of the various countries at war.

Imagine the burgeoning population in Africa that is growing beyond the natural capacity to support themselves.

Similary, North Korea has a population so large that it cannot feed even their young; and yet all remaining resource goes to develop WMD.

To bring INDUSTRY and RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT for the benefit of MANKIND

When industry is geared towards the PREPARATION OF WAR, the fallout of benefit is multi-fold and the civilian communities can only benefit from such activities.

This can only happen in a "NON-Schizo" runned country, in which the allocation of resources for the production to DIRECTLY benefit the Civilian is balanced with those efforts to produce for the benefit that directly benefit the Military.

The other countries around North Korea should take positive actions to influence North Korea from embarking on a wasteful effort to build its own Nuclear Device, when it cannot even feed its own population.

North Korea has no industry manufacturing consumer products, with its state planned economy based on the Stalinist Model, and makes most of its export wealth in the sales of Surface to Surface Missiles, as well as in the trading of controlled drugs.

Their schizo leader Kim Jong IL is an erractic character, who has been known to be responsible for getting State Agencies under his control to plant bombs in Myanmar to assassinate South Korean Government Ministers on a State visit to Myanmar. He has also been known to be responsible for ordering his Agencies in the kidnapping of Japanese Citizens - from Japan and also those travelling outside Japan as tourists. His extreme madness has even led him to kidnap prominent South Korean actors and actresses, to perform for him.

This North Korean Kim Jong IL is in the same class as Saddam Hussein, who gave instructions to use Chemical Bombs against his own people from the Kurdish ethnic group.

More wrong moves from the North Korean Kim Jong IL, and do not be surprised that the USA maybe forced to show its hand.

duotiga83 SG

how bout a full scale global war..... Rolling Eyes ....gd?

if this war is done...followed by iran, north korea, syria, lebanon.......then china explcite will attack taiwan with the same manner as usa..........

hhmm.......

Parka SG

To get rid of war...we have to get rid of the root that causes war......

duotiga83 SG

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/eastasia/view/35520/1/.html

First created :
23 March 2003 1402 hrs (SST) 0602 hrs (GMT)
Last modified :
23 March 2003 1402 hrs (SST) 0602 hrs (GMT)

Japan says US has no plans to attack North Korea

A senior Japanese government official has said the US won't take any military action on North Korea without Japanese and South Korean consent.

Washington said it had no intention of attacking Pyongyang despite labelling the North as part of an "axis of evil" together with Iraq and Iran, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said in a television interview.

"And (US military action) is impossible if there is no concerted policy" among Japan, South Korea and the US, he said.

Mr Abe has played a key role in diplomatic talks with North Korea since Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il held a historic meeting in September last year.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has declared North Korea in breach of nuclear safeguard accords and referred the crisis to the Security Council.

The crisis erupted in October after the US accused North Korea of running a secret uranium-enrichment programme and later cut off fuel aid to the energy-starved regime.

nismoS132 SG

DEATH TO ALL HUMANS!! Laughing

kim_hwoarang SG

if really North Korea starts the war, it will be WW3 liao !
coz dont underestimate their nuclear facilities even more stronger than Iraq. US will have a big headache if it really starts !
Twisted Evil

duotiga83 SG

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/weekinreview/23BOXA.html?ex=1049000400&en=79169e179c19faa7&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE%20

North Korea Expects the Worst

By JAMES BROOKE

Few regimes perhaps watched the British-American advance into Iraq with the nervousness felt, on the far eastern tip of President Bush's "axis of evil," by the government of North Korea. Believing that deterrence is the best weapon against the United States, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, is believed to be in a sprint for a nuclear arsenal.

But North Korea's talk may prove scarier than its technology. In the last two weeks, North Korea tested land-to-sea missiles that failed to hit their targets. Now, American intelligence analysts believe that North Korea is having trouble kick-starting a nuclear-reprocessing installation that was closed under international controls for almost a decade. One American nuclear expert said that the North Koreans are working with 1950's technology, vacuum tubes and all.

Then, when four MIG jet fighters intercepted an American reconnaissance plane, the American pilot ignored their signals to land in North Korea and flew home.

The mercurial Mr. Kim apparently wants to use Washington's preoccupation with Iraq to make a power play that would force the United States into talks, or that would force the world to recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.

He knows he is working against a deadline. Last month, with the invasion of Iraq still a question mark, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain came under hostile questioning in Parliament. Asked what country would be next for regime change after Iraq, he snapped, "North Korea."