North Korea Launched 2 More Missiles UN China React

North Korea Test Fires 2 More Missiles
news.yahoo.com May26, 2009
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 18 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea lashed out Tuesday at the United States and reportedly launched two more short-range missiles even as U.N. Security Council members debated possible new sanctions against the communist nation for its latest nuclear test.

North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles from the east coast city of Hamhung, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. South Korea's spy chief said two other missiles were launched Monday, and North Korea also warned ships to stay away from waters off its west coast through Wednesday, suggesting more test flights.

The missile launches came as leaders around the world condemned North Korea for Monday's underground nuclear test. Retaliatory options were limited, however, and no one was talking publicly about military action.

Russian defense officials said the blast was roughly as strong as the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II and was stronger than North Korea's first test in 2006.

In New York, U.N. diplomats said key nations were discussing a Security Council resolution that could include new sanctions against North Korea.

Ambassadors from the five permanent veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — as well as Japan and South Korea were expected to meet later Tuesday, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting is private.

The Security Council met in emergency session Monday and condemned the nuclear test. Council members said they would follow up with a new legally binding resolution.

France's deputy U.N. ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said his government wants a resolution to "include new sanctions ... because this behavior must have a cost and a price to pay."

It was too early to say what those sanctions might be and whether China and Russia, both close allies of North Korea, will go along.

In an unusual step, China strongly reproached its close ally.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu reiterated that Beijing "resolutely opposed" the nuclear test and urged Pyongyang to return to negotiations under which it had agreed to dismantle its atomic program.

North Korea is "trying to test whether they can intimidate the international community" with its nuclear and missile activity, said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"But we are united, North Korea is isolated, and pressure on North Korea will increase," Rice said.

Diplomats acknowledged, however, that there were limits to the international response and that past sanctions have had only spotty results.

"No one was talking about taking military action against North Korea," John Sawers, the British ambassador to the United Nations, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "I agree that the North Koreans are recalcitrant and very difficult to hold to any agreement that they sign up to. But there is a limited range of options here."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he felt "frustrated by the lack of progress in the denuclearization process" and said North Korea's only viable option was to return to the six-party talks on disarmament and continue exchanges and cooperation with South Korea.

Ban, visiting Finland, declined to comment on sanctions.

"I leave it to the Security Council members what measures they should take," said Ban, a South Korean who once took part in international talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.

North Korea blamed the escalating tensions in the region on Washington, saying the U.S. was building up its forces, and defended its nuclear test as a matter of self-preservation.

An editorial in the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, called the United States "warmongers" and said Washington's recent announcement about sending fighter planes to Japan "lay bare the sinister and dangerous scenario of the U.S. to put the Asia-Pacific region under its military control."

At the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, An Myong Han, a diplomat from the North Korean mission, said his country "could not but take additional self-defense measures including nuclear tests and the test launch of long-range missiles in order to safeguard our national interest."

The regime marked the nuclear test with celebratory speeches Tuesday at Pyongyang's Indoor Gymnasium, with No. 2 official Kim Yong Nam and senior ruling party official Choe Tae Bok presiding.

APTN video showed military officers and others at the ceremony, with placards of anti-U.S. slogans and praise for leader Kim Jong Il's "military first" policy. Kim was not seen in the video.

The test put Beijing in a particularly difficult position. Traditional allies for decades — Chinese troops fought on the North's side in the 1950-53 Korean War — China is still North Korea's biggest source of food, fuel aid and diplomatic support. It does not want chaos to erupt in its neighbor, sending a flood of refugees across its land border.

China's options range from agreeing to U.N. sanctions, which it has been reluctant to do, to halting key imports to stave off the complete collapse of the North's impoverished economy. Many of North Korea's international connections — from air transport to financial links — are also routed through China or Chinese-controlled territories.

Xiong Zhiyong, professor of diplomacy at the China Foreign Affairs University affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, said China needed to work with the U.S. to show North Korea its behavior was unacceptable, but he conceded that "past methods to intimidate and impose sanctions have proved ineffective."

Tsinghua University scholar Sun Zhe said the test had shown Beijing it could no longer carry on as before.

"There is no need for China to maintain its past policy toward its trouble-making neighbor any longer," Sun was quoted as saying in the Global Times, a newspaper published by the ruling Communist Party.

Sun reflected widespread thinking that ultimately the U.S. and North Korea would have to work out differences on their own. "China only plays the role of a peacemaker," he said.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak "agreed that the test was a reckless violation of international law that compels action in response," the White House said after the leaders spoke by telephone.

They also vowed to "seek and support a strong United Nations Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities."

Seoul also said it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction — a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.

North Korea fired at least four missiles. Yonhap, quoting an anonymous government official, said the two missiles launched Tuesday — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — had a range of about 80 miles. Officials would not comment on the report.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the missile tests appeared aimed at bolstering defense of its northeastern Musudan-ni launchpad. The North launched a rocket from Musudan-ni in April that many believe was aimed at testing long-range ballistic missile capabilities. The North claims it put a satellite into orbit.

Some experts speculated the nuclear test may suggest an attempt by Kim, 67, who might want one of his sons as a successor, to mark a spectacular scientific achievement.

Analyst Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the test may be an attempt to get Washington's attention so that it can hold bilateral talks to possibly win much-needed aid and prestige.

The provocations and anti-U.S. tirade come with two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee of Current TV, in North Korean custody. Accused of entering the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts," they face trial June 4.

UN’s punishment exercise

Erika Niedowski, Washington Bureau Chief
thenational.ae
* Last Updated: May 26. 2009 11:43PM UAE / May 26. 2009 7:43PM GMT

WASHINGTON // Members of the UN Security Council yesterday began work on a draft resolution that would punish North Korea for conducting its second nuclear test, even as the communist state reportedly fired two short-range missiles in another move of defiance.

The Security Council, in an emergency session on Monday, swiftly and unanimously condemned North Korea’s underground test, saying it was a “clear violation” of a UN resolution passed in 2006 after North Korea set off its first atomic device. “What we heard today was swift, clear, unequivocal condemnation and opposition to what occurred,” Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said after the council’s hour-long session.

“The meeting was brief and everybody essentially took the same view. We are now resolved to work on a resolution. We believe it ought to be a strong resolution with appropriately strong contents.”

Speaking yesterday in Helsinki, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, reiterated his earlier call for North Korea to return to the six-party talks, the multilateral diplomatic effort aimed at halting the country’s nuclear programme.

Pyongyang said in April, after the UN Security Council denounced its launch of a long-range rocket and tightened sanctions, that it would abandon those talks.

“The only viable option at this time for North Korea to remain as a responsible member of the international community is to return to the dialogue table,” Mr Ban said at a news conference. Barack Obama, the US president, has called North Korea’s latest nuclear test a “blatant violation” of international law and sought a strong and unified response from the international community. On Monday, he said the US would work with its allies to “stand up to” North Korea’s behaviour.

But as UN diplomats began work in New York on a new resolution, it was not at all clear how far beyond its strong condemnations the Security Council would go.

Only France, at this point, openly called for new sanctions, with its deputy permanent representative to the UN, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, saying there must be a “price to pay”. Mr Ban declined yesterday to say what measures the resolution might, or should, include.

On Monday evening, Mr Obama spoke with Lee Myung-bak, the president of South Korea, and Taro Aso, the prime minister of Japan, to pledge his “unequivocal commitment” to the defence of both nations. The White House said the leaders agreed to work towards passage of a UN resolution containing “concrete measures” to stop North Korea’s nuclear activities.

South Korea said yesterday it will now fully participate in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, which allows for the interdiction of North Korean and other vessels in an effort to prevent the transport of weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Obama, already saddled with multiple crises on both the domestic and foreign fronts, is faced with yet another one. North Korea’s actions constitute a direct challenge to his administration, whose foreign policy approach involves engagement with hostile nations rather than their isolation. The US has offered direct talks with North Korea to “supplement” those under the six-party framework. So far, North Korea has rebuffed the outreach.

The manner in which Mr Obama proceeds will be closely watched for any clues on how he may handle other foreign policy challenges, including Iran. But what this week’s nuclear test might make most clear is how limited Washington’s options are when it comes to getting North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said recently that North Korea’s return to the negotiating table would be “implausible, if not impossible”.

Analysts said much will depend on China which, as a permanent member of the Security Council, can veto any resolution on North Korea, including one that would impose new sanctions.

But Sheila Smith, an expert on north-east Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, suggested that Pyongyang has forced Beijing into a position that will make it difficult for the latter not to agree to sanctions.

“The task is two-fold for us who watch Beijing,” she said in an interview posted at cfr.org. “It is not only China’s responsibility to regional stability which it claims a very strong interest in, of course, but it also claims a global commitment to non-proliferation. So the bar is high for China. The Obama administration feels quite confident that Beijing will stand up to that challenge. But China needs to act now quite forcefully.”

May 26, 2009
North Korea: The view from China
Posted: 442 GMT

BEIJING, China — The news of North Korea’s nuclear test made the front pages of the state-run newspapers here in Beijing –- a sign the Chinese government is taking this issue very seriously.
The front of this English-language newspaper reflects how seriously the Chinese government is taking this issue.
The front of this English-language newspaper reflects how seriously the Chinese government is taking this issue.

The China Daily, an English-language newspaper, ran a front-page spread with the headline, “Pyongyang nuclear test shocks Beijing,” a timeline and a picture of women in Tokyo looking shocked.

Other countries responded quickly and strongly, but China took several hours to release a statement … so we can assume it was well-thought, crafted, but ultimately stern. Here is a portion:

“The Chinese government expresses firm opposition to this. Upholding the peace and stability in northeast Asia is in the mutual interest of all parties. China calls on all parties to keep calm, deal with the situation appropriately, and to solve problems peacefully through discussions and dialogue.”

What the statement does not talk about is how China intends to act with respect to the United Nations, and some might call the language vague.

Last month, when North Korea test fired a long-range rocket, China urged the world not to overreact and they seem to be taking the same strategy in this situation.

Though China is clearly disappointed and frustrated by the test, their position is do not react too strongly, do not provoke the North Koreans any further, try to persuade them to come back to the bargaining table, come back to six-party talks –- disarm through dialogue.

Much has been made of the relationship between China and the secretive North. Chinese officials feel they understand the North Korean mindset — do not respond to threats, only concession — and clearly Pyongyang does not feel like it has gotten enough concessions.

China seems to want to resume the constructive role again as liaison between North Korea and the rest of world.

I spoke with China analyst Victor Gao, who said: “North Korea has always been a very close friend of China, over the past several decades.”

“And I think recently, in the recent years because of North Korea’s attitude with regard to the six-party talks, China has had to bend backward to do whatever maneuvering and persuasion work as necessary.

“China will continue to work in that particular direction, play a very constructive role with North Korea as well as with other members of the six-party talks in order to eventually help all of us achieve the outcome of denuclearization,” he added.

But China has also always cautioned not to overestimate their relationship, saying their influence over North Korea is useful but limited.

Surely, China will be getting pressure from the international community to take a strong stance on North Korea. Going back to North Korea’s first nuclear test two years ago, China was much more outspoken, calling it a brazen act.

But Pyongyang has continued to defy the international community. Beijing has learned from that and believes it is better to be more restrained — how firm they can be while also being restrained is still a question.

Posted by: CNN Correspondent, Emily Chang