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Old 03-31-2009, 02:26 PM   #1
Antaletriangle
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Default All N.Korean forces on alert:War threats on Japan.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...I9Y&refer=asia

North Korea Threatens War Against Japan Over Missile (Update2)


By Jonathan Tirone

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea’s government vowed to wage war against Japan if Japanese defense forces try to shoot down a missile that the communist nation says will carry a communications satellite.

“Should Japan dare recklessly to intercept the DPRK’s satellite, its army will consider this as the start of Japan’s war of reinvasion more than six decades after the Second World War,” the official Korean Central News Agency said today in an e-mailed statement. North Korea is also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered his forces on March 27 to shoot down any North Korean object entering his country’s airspace and deployed guided-missile units around Tokyo. Japan, along with the U.S., China, South Korea and Russia want to forestall North Korea’s plans to launch what the government in Pyongyang calls a “peaceful” satellite, and refocus on joint efforts to end its nuclear program.

“Bellicose rhetoric is not helpful to calming tensions in the region. North Korea needs to desist from this rhetoric,” U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

North Korea accuses Japan of using the missile launch, scheduled to take place between April 4 and 8, as a pretext to build its own nuclear arsenal. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on March 29 called the launch “a mask” for development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“The primary aim sought by Japan through this is to bring the six-party talks to collapse and delay the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and thus justify its ambition for nuclear weaponization,” according to the KCNA statement.

‘Belligerent Rhetoric’

Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said North Korea’s “belligerent rhetoric towards its neighbors is unhelpful and counterproductive.”

The six-party joint statement of September 2005 called for North Korea to improve its relations with Japan and to promote peace and stability in Northeast Asia, Chang said in an e-mailed statement.

“We urge North Korea to uphold its commitments and to refrain from provocative actions that increase tensions in the region,” he said.

Japan doesn’t have atomic weapons and is the only country to have nuclear armaments used against it, during World War II. North Korea tested an atomic weapon in 2006 in the Korean peninsula’s first nuclear detonation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 31, 2009 10:02 EDT
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...2-2703,00.html

SEOUL: Intelligence agencies claim to have information that North Korea has assembled several nuclear warheads for its medium-range Rodong missiles capable of targeting Japan.

Brussels International Crisis Group senior analyst Daniel Pinkston said yesterday that agencies believed five to eight warheads had been assembled.

"Intelligence agencies believe the North Koreans have assembled nuclear warheads for Rodong missiles, which are stored at underground facilities near the Rodong missile bases," Mr Pinkston said.

"It might be right, it might be wrong, but if others believe it is true, it has implications for the psychological aspects of deterrence," he said.

Intelligence officials have not before publicly announced that North Korea, which tested a nuclear weapon in 2006, is capable of manufacturing nuclear warheads.

Mr Pinkston said it would take one or two days to assemble the warheads.

He said North Korea was believed to have put the operation and maintenance of its nuclear weapons under the control of an organ separate from the army and directly run by leader Kim Jong-il.

It was preparing to test-fire its longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, within the next few days.

AFP


http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_356776.html
March 31, 2009
SEOUL - NORTH Korea has put all regular and reserve forces on combat alert ahead of its rocket launch, a South Korean aid group said on Tuesday.

The hardline communist country has confined all regular soldiers to barracks as well as alerting reserve forces, said the Good Friends group which has contacts in the North.

'Our latest information from North Korea showed all male adults on standby as tensions run high over its satellite launch,' group official Lee Seung-Yong told AFP.

He said all men were barred from travelling far from their homes.

'The country is now on semi-war status,' Mr Lee said, adding North Korea appears to be concerned about possible sanctions following the launch set for some time between April 4 and 8.

The group in its newsletter said Pyongyang has told ruling party members in cities and counties that it would not 'sit idle if its enemies hinder its satellite launch.' The United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is a pretext for a long-range missile test and they would refer it to the United Nations Security Council.

Japan has said it will shoot down the rocket if it appears likely to fall on Japanese territory.

South Korea's defence ministry refused to comment on the aid group's report.

Along with its 1.2 million-member regular armed forces, North Korea maintains 7.7 million reserve troops, or about 30 per cent of its population, according to South Korean military data. -- AFP
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...4I&refer=japan

North Korea Has Two Nuclear Warheads for Missile, Kyodo Reports
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By Stuart Biggs

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea has two nuclear warheads it can load on its mid-range Rodong missile, Japan’s Kyodo News reported, citing an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a non-government organization.

The warheads were built using plutonium extracted from North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear plant, Kyodo reported, citing Daniel Pinkston, who said he got the information from a government official without divulging which country.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials have obtained evidence of the warheads, Pinkston told Kyodo.

North Korea said earlier this month it plans to fire a rocket carrying a satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. South Korea and the U.S. suspect the launch is a cover for a test of a long-range ballistic missile, which would be a breach of a United Nations resolution.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 30, 2009 22:52 EDT

Last edited by Antaletriangle; 03-31-2009 at 02:30 PM.
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