http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030304/ap_on_re_as/koreas_us_16
Intercept Raises U.S.-N. Korea Tensions
Tue Mar 4, 7:15 AM ET
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea - The interception of a U.S. reconnaissance
plane by North Korean fighter jets heightens tension on the Korean
Peninsula amid fears that the North could make nuclear bombs within
months.
Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman, said
four North Korean fighter jets approached the U.S. plane over the
Sea of Japan on Sunday, coming as close as 50 feet. One used its
radar to identify the plane as a target, but there was no hostile
fire, he said.
Davis said it was the first such incident since April 1969 when a
North Korean plane shot down a U.S. Navy (news - web sites) EC-121
surveillance plane, killing all 31 Americans aboard.
In an interview with 14 U.S. newspapers, President Bush (news - web
sites) repeated the U.S. stance that the situation can be resolved
with diplomacy. According to The Baltimore Sun, Bush said that
while the military option has not been taken off the table, it
would be a last resort in dealing with the country's moves toward
nuclear weapons production.
Asked how successful diplomatic efforts have been, Bush said: "It's
in process. If they don't work diplomatically, they'll have to work
militarily. And military option is our last choice. Options are on
the table, but I believe we can deal with this diplomatically. I
truly do."
The interception fit a pattern of recent North Korean actions that
could be an effort to pressure the United States into negotiations
on chief Northern aims: a nonaggression treaty and aid for its
dilapidated economy.
"Ever since the nuclear issue surfaced, North Korea (news - web
sites) has been taking steps to increase tension and to show its
hostility," said Lee Suk-soo, a military studies professor at the
National Defense College in Seoul.
"The reckless move is a signal to the United States at a time when
Washington pays little attention to North Korea's repeated demand
for direct dialogue," he said.
North Korea did not comment on the plane incident. Its state-run
media instead criticized annual U.S.-South Korean military
exercises that began Tuesday, saying they were preparation for an
attack. The "Foal Eagle" exercise, which has been held since 1961,
ends April 2.
"This Foal Eagle exercise is escalating the danger of armed clashes
on the Korean Peninsula," said Minju Joson, a North Korean
newspaper.
"If the eagle swoops down on us, a nuclear war will break out and
it is clear that the whole Korean nation will not escape nuclear
holocaust," said the report, which was monitored by South Korea
(news - web sites)'s Yonhap news agency.
North Korea officials have repeatedly condemned the exercises with
strong rhetoric.
North Korea on Tuesday reiterated its demand for a nonaggression
pact, saying through Radio Pyongyang that it was "to remove
unreasonable U.S. threat, not to gain something." The radio was
monitored by Yonhap.
U.S. military officials say the annual maneuver is
"defense-oriented" and is not related to the nuclear dispute.
Washington, which is preparing for a possible war against Iraq
(news - web sites), says it will not be blackmailed into
concessions and that North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear
weapons are a multilateral issue. The U.N. Security Council is
expected to debate the matter.
North Korea test-fired a missile into the sea off its east coast on
the eve of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's inauguration last
week.
On Feb. 20, a North Korean MiG-19 warplane crossed over the South's
western sea border, but quickly retreated after South Korean jets
flew to the area.
Last week, U.S. officials said North Korea had restarted a nuclear
reactor that is at the center of a suspected weapons program. The
5-megawatt reactor could yield enough plutonium for an atomic bomb
in about a year, experts say.
North Korea, which has warned that a U.S. attack on its nuclear
facilities at Yongbyon would trigger war, could also decide to
reactivate a reprocessing facility near the reactor. Such a move
could allow it to make several nuclear bombs within months,
according to defense analysts.
The United States believes the North already has one or two nuclear
bombs.
In the Sunday incident, Davis said, the four North Korean planes
"shadowed" the unarmed American plane over international waters for
about 20 minutes before breaking off.
Two North Korean MiG-29 fighters and two other aircraft that Davis
said appeared to be MiG-23 fighters intercepted the U.S. Air Force
RC-135S reconnaissance plane, which Davis said was about 150 miles
off North Korea's coast.
The closest the fighters came was about 50 feet, Davis said. He did
not know how many crew members were aboard the RC-135, although the
standard number is 17, including two pilots.
The U.S. plane broke off its mission and returned to its home
station at Kadena Air Base in Japan, Davis said.
North Korean complaints about reconnaissance flights by U.S. planes
had grown more frequent before the incident. On Saturday, the North
said a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane had intruded into its
airspace off the east coast daily for a week. RC-135 planes are
modified Boeing 707s.
The type of plane that was intercepted is loaded with electronic
receivers and features large circular windows in the fuselage for
the photography of foreign ballistic-missile tests at long
range.
The current nuclear dispute began in October when U.S. officials
said the North acknowledged it had a secret nuclear program in
violation of a 1994 agreement.
Washington and its allies suspended oil shipments and North Korea
responded by moving to reactivate frozen nuclear facilities and
withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
