March 10, 2016 - KOREAN PENINSULA - North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into
the East Sea, according to the South Korean military. The launch comes
amid the biggest ever joint US-South Korean war drills, which the North
views as infringing on its sovereignty.
The missiles were fired around 5:20 a.m. local time (8:50 p.m. GMT) from North Hwanghae province. The rockets reportedly flew some 500km before landing in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) northeast of the city of Wonsan in South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.
“The military is keeping close tabs on the situation and is prepared to deal with any North Korean provocations,” said the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement.
Japan lodged a protest with North Korea following the launch at the country’s embassy in China, Kyodo news agency reported. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also summoned an emergency national security meeting after the launch.
During a meeting with nuclear scientists on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reiterated his threat to resort to preemptive nuclear strikes in the event of aggression from the US. Kim claimed that Pyongyang had managed to construct a miniature warhead that can be fitted onto a ballistic missile.
Pyongyang’s recent belligerence appears to be a response to the joint US-South Korean military drills. More than 300,000 South Korean and some 15,000 American troops are involved in the so-called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that began on Monday and are set to last until April 30. The drills, which involve training for amphibious operations and wartime missions, are aimed at working out a best response to possible aggression from North Korea.
Ahead of the maneuvers, the North warned that it would launch “a preemptive and offensive nuclear strike” against the allies in the case of provocation.
The exercises were also condemned by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said they only serve to escalate the situation on the Peninsula.
“Naturally, North Korea as a state, which is directly referred to as the object of such military activity, can have rational concerns for its security,” read the ministry’s statement, which was published on Monday. “Russia has repeatedly publicly declared its opposition to such manifestations of military and political pressure on Pyongyang,” it added.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been growing since Pyongyang’s announcement that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test on January 6. The North then fired a long-range missile allegedly bringing an earth-observing satellite into orbit on February 7.
In response, the UN Security Council passed a new resolution last Wednesday condemning North Korea’s saber-rattling and imposing a new package of harsh economic sanctions on the Hermit State. The measures include stepped up cargo inspections and bans on exporting products to North Korea that could directly contribute to the operational capabilities of the country’s military.
Pyongyang ceases all cooperation with Seoul, ‘liquidates’ Kaesong
Hours after the launch, North Korea announced that it is annulling all cooperation agreements with the South, and will “liquidate” all of the assets owned by South Korean companies on its territory, Reuters reported.
The statement primarily refers to the Kaesong industrial zone located on the border between the two Koreas, which for years has served as a symbol of cooperation. Seoul suspended its participation in the project in retaliation for Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test and a rocket launch.
“From this moment, we will view all agreements which the two Koreas have made on economic cooperation and exchanges as invalid,” said a statement published by the North’s official KCNA news agency, as quoted by Yonhap.
Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which was behind the statement, also made a vague threat to Seoul, promising to deal “a devastating end to [President] Park Geun-hye and her party.”
The Kaesong Industrial Park was designed to alleviate tensions on the Korean peninsula. It was opened in 2004 and lauded as a breakthrough project symbolizing collaboration between the rivaling neighbors.
In the days after Seoul announced that it was suspending its operations at the park, South Korean workers were ordered to leave and all the South’s assets at the Park were frozen. Their estimated value amounts to 820 billion won ($663 million). Kaesong provided employment for more than 53,000 North Korean workers, who manufactured products ranging from textiles to electronics. - RT.
February 14, 2016 - PENTAGON, UNITED STATES - North Korea poses an increasing danger of using long-range missiles
capable of striking the United States with nuclear warheads and is
fielding new road-mobile and submarine-launched missiles, the Pentagon
said in a report to Congress made public Friday.
The Pentagon is working with South Korea, Japan and other countries to counter “the continued and growing threat from North Korea, its nuclear and missile programs, and its proliferation of related technology,” the report said, adding that the U.S. provides “extended deterrence” through both nuclear and conventional forces.
On the nuclear threat, the report singled out missile programs as a major worry.
“North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear technology and capabilities and development of intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile programs underscore the growing threat it poses to regional stability and U.S. national security,” the 30-page report states.
“North Korea’s pursuit of a submarine-launched ballistic missile capability also highlights the regime’s commitment to diversifying its missile force, strengthening the missile force’s survivability, and finding new ways to coerce its neighbors.”
North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) program was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon. In January, the first successful ejection test of the developmental SLBM was carried out.
Bruce Bechtol, a former Defense Intelligence Agency expert on North Korea, said the SLBM poses an increasing threat of nuclear attack against the United States.
“The SLBM program is scary to me because it has the new, Golf-class submarine, and the ‘new’ SSN-6 missile to successfully threaten American bases and territory,” said Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University in Texas.
“To discount this ongoing development is to discount the national security of the United States,” he added.
The report said North Korea possesses one submarine-launched missile system, along with less than 100 short-range Scud missiles and fewer than 50 800-mile-range Nodong missiles. An intermediate-range missile also is deployed.
The North Koreans possess an unknown number of long-range TD-2 missiles like the one test-fired last weekend. Additionally, the North Korean military has at least six KN-08 road-mobile missiles. The missile has been ground-tested extensively but has not been flight tested.
Both the Taepodong and KN-08 are assessed as having ranges greater than 3,400 miles.
The regime’s missile forces were upgraded recently with the creation of the North Korean Strategic Rocket Forces.
“North Korea also continues to develop the TD-2, which could reach the continental United States if configured as an [intercontinental ballistic missile],” the report said.
North Korea has said the TD-2 is a space launcher that placed a payload into orbit on Sunday. The report said that without a reentry vehicle capable of surviving the heat of reentry “North Korea cannot deliver a weapon to target from an ICBM.”
The regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also has developed offensive cyber warfare capabilities that are used to “collect intelligence and cause disruption in South Korea and other adversaries including the United States.”
The North Koreans were behind the November 2014 cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment that shut down employee access and deleted data, the report said.
North Korea’s national strategy announced by Kim in 2013 is aimed at building up both its economy and its nuclear forces.
The North is believed to have an arsenal of between 10 and 20 nuclear warheads and has boasted of the capability of launching long-range nuclear missiles.
In September, North Korea announced that nuclear facilities at Yongbyon had been restarted for a nuclear forces buildup.
“The strategic goal of the regime is to ensure Kim family rule in perpetuity,” the report said, adding that Kim, 33, has solidified his grip on power since taking control after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il in late 2011.
North Korea’s pattern of conducting provocative small-scale military attacks combined with its nuclear and missile developments and its arms proliferation “pose a serious threat to the United States, the region, and the world,” the report concluded.
Despite outdated military equipment and arms, the one million-strong army can “inflict serious damage” on South Korea, using thousands of artillery guns and rockets capable of reaching the South Korean capital of Seoul.
The country’s space program appears to be “a veneer” intended to mask the long-range ballistic missile program. The government also announced plans to deploy weather and geostationary satellites.
The test Sunday placed a payload in a polar orbit that nuclear experts say could be used by North Korea to develop a space-based nuclear blast designed to disrupted all electronics in the United States with an electromagnetic pulse.
According to the Pentagon, North Korea does not trust China and Russia and claims to be under imminent threat from outside the country.
The “garrison state worldview” is used to justify draconian security controls and large military expenditures.
“Despite resource shortages and aging equipment, North Korea’s large, forward-positioned military can initiate an attack against the ROK with little or no warning, minimizing the logistics strain it would incur if deploying forces from further away,” the report said.
The regime is unlikely to conduct a large-scale military attack that would invite counterattacks but is willing to use smaller, asymmetric warfare strikes, like the DMZ mining and the Sony cyber attack.
Smaller attacks using special operations forces, growing artillery, and missile forces could rapidly escalate to a larger conflict.
The report said North Korea state-run media revealed an unmanned aerial vehicle that appears to be a copy of the Raytheon MQM-107 Streaker target drone.
“North Korean press coverage of the event described the UAV as being capable of precision strike by crashing into the target,” the report said.
In addition to nuclear forces, North Korea also has biological and chemical weapons arsenals.
On arms proliferation, the report said Pyongyang has continued to sell conventional arms and ballistic missiles that provide a source of hard currency for the internationally isolated regime.
“North Korea uses a worldwide network to facilitate arms sales activities and maintains a core, but dwindling group of recipient countries including Iran, Syria, and Burma,” the report said.
“North Korea has exported conventional and ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical assistance to countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.”
The sales were carried out in violation of United Nations sanctions. Pyongyang has used various means to circumvent the sanctions, including the falsification of documents, mislabeling crates, and using front companies to hide the ship and air transfers.
“North Korea’s demonstrated willingness to proliferate nuclear technology remains one of our gravest concerns,” the report said, noting past sales of nuclear goods to Libya and Syria.
International interdictions of North Korean arms transfers included the July 2013 seizure in Panama of air defense systems and MiG-21 jets.
Other North Korean arms shipments were stopped from reaching Burma, Congo, and Syria.
This year’s annual report, required under 2012 legislation, for the first time was 30 pages long and included graphics. Previous reports were limited to one or two pages.
The report “Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 2015,” can be accessed here. - WFB.
February 13, 2016 - KOREAN PENINSULA - North Korea has severed all communication hotlines with its
South Korean neighbor amid a spike in tensions following Pyongyang’s
recent rocket launch. Seoul says it will start talks with the US as
early as next week on the deployment of a new missile defense system.
All emergency hotlines connecting the two rival states were cut on Thursday, following the South’s decision to stop operations at the joint industrial complex in Kaesong, Seoul’s Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said on Friday.
Meanwhile, South Korea will begin talks with Washington on the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system as early as next week, a South Korean defense official told Reuters.
Russia and China have expressed concerns about the potential deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Russian Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Timonin said that deploying the anti-ballistic missile system will not help solve the North’s nuclear problem.
"Russia thinks that deployment of such systems in the Republic of Korea [South Korea] hardly facilitates strengthening peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and brings the resolution of the nuclear problem," he told a press conference last week.
Seoul took decision to shut down the Kaesong inter-Korean factory - the last major symbol of cooperation on the peninsula – on Wednesday, following Pyongyang’s Sunday launch of a long-range rocket and a fourth nuclear test on January 6.
On Friday, the South shut off water and energy supply to the Kaesong complex, situated 10km north of the Korean demilitarized zone, in reprisal for the deportation of some 300 South Korean workers and its takeover by the North Korean military on Thursday.
The South’s unification minister, Hong Yong-pyo, described the move as “very regrettable” and cautioned the North against damaging South Korean property in the complex.
The closure of Kaesong provoked a strong reaction from North Korean officials, who called it “a dangerous declaration of war” and a “declaration of an end to the last lifeline of North-South relations,” according to a statement from the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, as cited by AFP.
South Korean workers were ordered to leave the factories by the deadline set by the North at 5.30pm (08:30 GMT) on Thursday. They were prohibited from taking anything apart from personal items.
In addition, the North ordered the freezing of all South Korean assets at the park.
The Kaesong Industrial Park was opened in 2004 in the North Korean border region as a breakthrough collaborative project between the neighbors, and was designed to alleviate strains between the two countries.
The tensions on the Korean Peninsula have heightened since North Korea launched a long-range missile and claimed it successfully placed the observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 into orbit on Sunday. - RT.
February 7, 2016 - KOREAN PENINSULA - North Korea has claimed that it successfully deployed an earth
observation satellite into orbit, after its “long-range missile test” on
Sunday was widely criticized as provocative and in breach of UN
resolutions.
The rocket took off at around 12:30am GMT, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was tracking the flight path of the ballistic target. The US Strategic Command also detected and tracked the missile launch into space, Reuters reports.
“NORAD determined that at no time was the missile a threat to North America,” the Strategic Command's statement said.
Several hours after the launch, the North announced that it had succeeded in placing a“newly developed earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4” into orbit, KCNA reports.
The satellite was launched aboard a “carrier rocket Kwangmyongsong” that blasted off from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County. The agency said that the satellite entered its preset orbit nine minutes and 46 seconds after the lift-off at 9:09am Korean time.
The North says that it is “legitimately exercising the right to use space for independent and peaceful purposes” and plans to send more satellites into space.
@YonhapNews Not Gud News for Regional Scenarios United Nations is a Lame Duck Organisation
The first stage of the rocket had been calculated to fall into the West Sea, according to North Korea's prior warning to the UN, and according to Seoul’s military no damage from rocket “debris or other parts” was reported on South Korean territory.
WATCH: North Korea launches long-range rocket believed to be front for missile test.
While the rocket seems to have successfully separated its first and second stage boosters with debris falling in somewhat designated areas, the launch is still considered a failure by Seoul, according to Yonhap. According to the agency the rocket “burned up” southwest of Jeju, the largest island off the south coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The missile “disappeared from radar” during the fairing separation stage, the agency added.
(URGENT) NK rocket fairing falls into waters southwest of Jeju Island https://t.co/3R3VhCp1Ct
A senior US defense official also confirmed the launch, saying that the flight trajectory “does not pose a threat to the US or our allies.”
However, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice called the launch “a serious threat” to American interests.
"North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs represent serious threats to our interests – including the security of some of our closest allies–and undermine peace and security in the broader region," Rice said.
Pyongyang is acting against the norms of international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“It is obvious that such actions aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as a whole,” said the ministry, adding that the course of action chosen by Pyongyang can only prompt strong protest.
The Chinese Defense Ministry also criticized the rocket launch as being a “second violation” of UN resolutions by North Korea in just over a month. “The launch threatens the international system of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, leading to further deterioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” the ministry’s statement said.
North Korea previously notified the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) about a potential rocket launch to put an earth observation satellite into orbit, claiming a launch window of February 8 to February 25.
The launch however triggered international concern as a potential long-range missile test. The North is banned from using ballistic missile technology under UN Security Council resolutions.
No anti-ballistic missiles were fired as the rocket passed over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, broadcaster NHK reports. Meanwhile Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has immediately condemned the launch, telling reporters that "we absolutely cannot allow this.”
''We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people," Abe said.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is reportedly set to take place later on Sunday to discuss the event. South Korean bodies are already convening emergency meetings on different levels.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye termed the launch an “unacceptable provocation” as he called on Washington to “take all necessary measures” in response to the threat.
Sunday's launch is the sixth long-range missile test by the North. Last month North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a thermonuclear bomb. While many experts doubt that the nuclear device was indeed an H-bomb, the move prompted the US and its regional allies, Japan and South Korea, to seek tougher UN sanctions against Kim Jong Un.
N. Korea preparing 5th nuclear test - S. Korea spy agency
North Korea is preparing for its fifth nuclear test, the South's intelligence services have said, as cited by Yonhap agency. The news come hours after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully put an earth observation satellite into orbit.
Earlier the agency reported that the South Korean military found suspected fragments of the North’s rocket.
The metal object believed to be a part of the rocket's fairing (the nose cone which houses the payload) was discovered southeast of South Korea's Jeju Island by a navy ship, an official from the country's Defense Ministry said.
@YonhapNews: "(URGENT) S. Korea's spy agency says N. Korea is preparing for fifth nuclear test…" #1 in South Korea https://t.co/7RLdIUlgLA
Yonhap cited a Seoul lawmaker, who said the North has the technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile.
“The satellite is presumed to weigh 200 kilograms, two times heavier than the satellite launched in 2012," the lawmaker said, after being briefed in a closed-door session by the National Intelligence Service. A proper satellite usually weighs at least 800 to 1,500 kilograms, the agency wrote.
The North Korean satellite was launched on a “carrier rocket” that blasted off from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County. The KCNA news agency said the satellite entered its preset orbit nine minutes and 46 seconds after lift-off at 9:09am Korean time.
Russia’s Interfax agency has cited the North Korean embassy in Moscow as saying that Pyongyang is planning to continue to launching rockets carrying satellites into space.
The launch triggered international concern as a potential long-range missile test. The UN Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. South Korean bodies are already convening emergency meetings at different levels. The UNSC has been working on sanctions against Pyongyang for its January nuclear test.
"North Korea has committed an unacceptable provocation by launching a long-range missile after conducting a fourth nuclear test,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said. "The [UN] Security Council should quickly come up with strong sanctions."
S. Korea agrees to begin talks on US missile defense after North's rocket launch
South Korea has agreed to start negotiations with the US on the possible deployment of a missile defense system on its territory, Seoul officials said.
The announcement of the possible deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) was made by Yoo Jeh-seung, South Korean deputy minister for policy at a meeting with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of USFK's Eighth Army.
"The US and South Korea have decided to start official discussions on the possibility of US Forces Korea's deployment of THAAD as part of measures to upgrade the South Korea-US alliance's missile defense position against North Korea's advancing threats," Yoo Jeh-seung said, as cited by the Yonhap news agency.
According to General Vandal, the decision to deploy THAAD was made on the recommendation of United States Forces Korea Commander General Curtis Scaparrotti.
“It’s time to move forward on the issue,” Vandal said.
The news comes hours after North Korea claimed it had successfully put an earth observation satellite into orbit.
The launch, however, triggered international concern as a potential long-range missile test. The North is banned from using ballistic missile technology under UN Security Council resolutions.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said: "North Korea has committed an unacceptable provocation by launching a long-range missile after conducting a fourth nuclear test.”
"The [UN] Security Council should quickly come up with strong sanctions," she added.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is scheduled to take place later on Sunday to discuss the event. South Korean bodies are already convening emergency meetings at different levels. The UNSC has been working on sanctions against Pyongyang for its January nuclear test.
Seoul is also planning to expand anti-North propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the border, Yonhap added.
China said THAAD missile systems, should they be deployed in South Korea, are a serious threat to China's interests in the region, AP reported.
However, South Korea says the missiles will only be aimed north. "If THAAD is deployed to the Korean peninsula, it will be only operated against North Korea," Yoo Jeh-seung said, as cited by Reuters.
France and the UK have condemned North Korea’s rocket launch. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the missile test was a "clear and deliberate" violation of UN security council resolutions.
"I strongly condemn North Korea's ballistic missile technology test. This is a clear and deliberate violation of a number of UN Security Council resolutions. North Korea's actions continue to present a threat to regional and international security," Hammond said.
- RT News.
June 24, 2014 - RUSSIA - Russian strategic air forces fired six new, precision-strike cruise
missiles in test launches Friday amid new tensions between Moscow and
the West over the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Friday that the missile firings
took place during exercises involving eight Tu-95 Bear bombers—the same
type of strategic bomber recently intercepted 50 miles off the California coast by U.S. jets.
Russian
bombers, meanwhile, continued saber-rattling air defense zone
incursions against Canada’s arctic and in Europe over the Baltic Sea.
On
Monday, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu announced that Russian
military forces had launched a large-scale “surprise” readiness exercise
that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President
Obama discussed the Ukraine crisis with Putin by phone on Monday and
urged the Russian leader and separatist rebels to implement a peace plan
proposed by the Ukrainian government.
“The president
called upon President Putin to press the separatists to recognize and
abide by the ceasefire and to halt the flow of weapons and materiel
across its border into Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
Russia
also announced last week it will deploy Tu-160 strategic bombers to
neighboring Belarus, a key Moscow ally, for a military celebration.
The
new cruise missile was not further identified by the ministry
statement, other than being described as a “new, high-precision” guided
cruise missile.
Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the
U.S. Strategic Command, said the recent testing of Russia’s newest
air-launched cruise missile is part of a pattern of nuclear saber
rattling by Moscow.
The nuclear missile test firings
followed a large-scale nuclear forces exercise in May that Haney said
was a cause for concern in light of Ukraine.
“In light
of increasing tensions, Russia has also been busy exercising and
demonstrating its strategic capabilities, reaping the benefits of
decades of modernization,” Haney said during a defense industry
breakfast June 18.
The large-scale nuclear exercise
May 8 drills involved “significant nuclear forces and associated command
and control in just six months since the last one back in October,”
Haney told a defense industry breakfast June 18.
“Additionally,
we have seen significant Russian strategic aircraft deployments in the
vicinity of places like Japan, Korea and even our West Coast,” Haney
said. “Russia continues to modernize its strategic capabilities across
all legs of its triad, and open source [reporting] has recently cited
the sea trials of its latest [missile submarine], testing of its newest
air launch cruise missile and modernization of its intercontinental
ballistic force to include its mobile capability in that area.”
Russian Air Force Tu-95 bombers fly in formation over Red Square / AP
A former Pentagon official said the new missile was likely an air-launched cruise missile designated KH-101 or KH-102. The Kh-101 is armed with a conventional warhead and the Kh-102 is a strategic nuclear delivery vehicle.
“The Obama administration Defense Department says the KH-102 is operational, and that is consistent with what the Russian press is saying,” said Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic weapons analyst. “There is less Russian press on the KH-101.”
Schneider said the missile also may have been a variant of the Cold War-era KH-55 nuclear cruise missile or its conventional variant, the KH-555.
The Russian Defense Ministry said eight Tu-95s based at Engels airbase in central Russia flew from the Far East airbase called Ukrainka.
“One Tu-95MS strategic missile carrier carried out launches of six new high-precision airborne cruise missiles, using a multi-role launch system, against ground-based targets on the Kura aviation range (Kamchatka),” the Russian ministry said, according to Interfax-AVN.
“The crew precisely fulfilled the tasks set for the flight. Practice targets on the range were hit. While fulfilling the task, the crew of the Tu-95MS spent about seven hours in the air.”
The war games in central Russia mark the second time in recent weeks that short-notice, large-scale military exercises were held.
“In line with [Putin's] orders, the Central Military District’s troops and also units and garrisons deployed on its territory have been put on full combat alert since 11:00 a.m. [Saturday],” Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu said, adding that the maneuvers began June 21 and will continue until June 28.
The war games include airborne forces and will simulate the rapid deployment of forces over long distances using combined road and rail transport between the Ural Mountain area and western Siberia.
The exercises are taking place amid NATO reports of a new buildup of Russian military forces along Ukraine’s eastern border.
The exercises and massing of troops appears to be part of what Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently is a Russian campaign of military “coercion, subversion, and misinformation” toward Ukraine.
Canadian government officials expressed new concerns about Russian strategic bomber flights over the arctic that encroached on the country’s air defense identification zone and prompted the scrambling of CF-18 jet fighters to intercept the bombers.
The bombers were detected over the Canadian arctic twice in the past two weeks, Canada’s defense minister said, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
The Free Beacon first disclosed June 11 that two Bear bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast on June 9, the closest the bombers have flown since the Cold War with the Soviet Union. U.S. F-15 jets were launched to intercept and follow the bombers.
Canadian officials told the Globe and Mail the increased Russian bomber flights appear to be “strategic messaging from Moscow” coinciding with tensions over the Ukraine crisis.
The bomber flights were disclosed by Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson in comments to parliament June 19. He said the flights showed the need for “ongoing vigilance” in monitoring Canada’s northern borders.
“We continue to see Russian military activity in the Arctic. The Canadian armed forces remain ready and able to respond,” he said.
The expressions of concern by Canada are a change in policy. Three months ago, the Ottawa government had played down competition with Russia over the arctic.
Also last week, British jet fighters were dispatched to intercept Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea.
British Typhoon fighters were sent to meet four groups of Russian aircraft over air defense zones in the Baltic Sea. The jets included Su-27 fighters, a Tu-22 Backfire bomber, an A-50 airborne warning and control aircraft, and an An-26 transport plane.
“The Russian aircraft were monitored by the [Royal Air Force] Typhoons and escorted on their way,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement, Sky News reported Thursday. - Free Beacon.
May 22, 2014 - KOREAN PENINSULA - North and South Korean warships exchanged artillery fire Thursday in
disputed waters off the western coast, South Korean military officials
said, in the latest sign of rising animosity between the bitter rivals
in recent weeks.
Officials from the South's Joint
Chiefs of Staff and Defense Ministry said a South Korean navy ship was
engaged in a routine patrol near the countries' disputed maritime
boundary in the Yellow Sea when a North Korean navy ship fired two
artillery shells. The shells did not hit the South Korean ship and fell
in waters near it, they said.
The South Korean ship then fired several artillery rounds in waters near the North Korean ship which also did not hit it, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.
South Korea was trying to determine if the North Korean ship had attempted to hit the South Korean vessel but missed, or if the shells were not meant to hit the ship.
Officials said that residents on the frontline Yeonpyeong Island were evacuated to shelters, and fishing ships in the area were ordered to return to ports. In 2010, North Korea fired artillery at the island, killing two civilians and two marines.
Kang Myeong-sung, a Yeonpyeong resident, said in a phone interview that hundreds of residents were in underground shelters after loudspeakers ordered them there. He heard the sound of artillery fire and said many people felt uneasy at first but later began to stop worrying.
Both Koreas regularly conduct artillery drills in the disputed waters. The sea boundary is not clearly marked, and the area has been the scene of three bloody naval skirmishes between the rival Koreas since 1999.
North Korea has in recent weeks conducted a string of artillery drills and missile tests and has unleashed a torrent of racist and sexist rhetoric at the leaders of the U.S. and South Korea.
On Tuesday, South Korean navy ships fired warning shots to repel three North Korean warships that briefly violated the disputed sea boundary. On Wednesday, North Korea's military vowed to retaliate.
North Korean military ships and fishing boats have routinely intruded into South Korean-controlled waters that the North doesn't recognize. The Yellow Sea boundary was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led U.N. Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. - Yahoo.
April 07, 2014 - KOREAN PENINSULA - Japan will strike any North
Korean ballistic missile that threatens to hit Japan in the coming weeks
after Pyongyang recently fired medium-range missiles, a government
source said on Saturday.
In this July, 2013 photo, military trucks carry Rodong missiles during a military parade at
Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. Kyodo News/AP
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera issued the order, which took effect on Thursday and runs through April 25, the day that marks the founding of North Korea's army, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Following the order, meant "to prepare for any additional missile launches," a destroyer was dispatched to the Sea of Japan and will fire if North Korea launches a missile that Tokyo deems in danger of striking or falling on Japanese territory, the source said.
North Korea fired shells across a disputed sea boundary, according to
South Korean officials. South Korean
troops returned fire into North
Korean waters. CBS News' Seth Doane reports.
Tensions have been building between North Korea and its neighbors since Pyongyang - in an apparent show of defiance - fired two Rodong missiles on March 26, just as the leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States were sitting down to discuss containing the North Korean nuclear threat. That first firing in four years of mid-range missiles that can hit Japan followed a series of short-range rocket launches over the past two months. The Rodong ballistic missiles fell into the sea after flying 650 km (400 miles), short of a maximum range thought to be some 1,300 km, Japan said.
Since then, North Korea has rattled sabres by firing artillery rounds into South Korean waters, prompting the South to fire back; South Korea has test-fired a new ballistic missile with a range of 500 km; and Pyongyang has threatened an unspecified "new form" of nuclear test.
South Korean protesters try to burn a North Korean flag and a picture of
the North's leader Kim Jong Un
during an anti-North Korea rally against
North Korea's recent launch of short-range rockets,
in Seoul, South
Korea, Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
North Korea launched two medium-range missiles recently while its rivals,
South Korea,
Japan and the U.S., were holding a summit to discuss
security threats from the North.
At the same time, Japan and North Korea resumed talks - suspended since Pyongyang test-launched a long-range missile more than a year ago - over the North's nuclear and missile programs, as well as the fate of Japanese abducted in the 1970s and 1980s to help train North Korean spies.
Onodera has avoided publicly announcing the new missile-intercept order so as not to put a chill on those talks, Japanese media said.
Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera (C) reviews troops from the
Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force 1st
Airborne Brigade during an annual
new year military exercise at Narashino exercise field in Funabashi,
east of Tokyo January 12, 2014. REUTERS/Issei Kato
He also did not deploy Patriot missile batteries that would be the last line of Defense against incoming warheads, the source told Reuters.
Japanese Aegis destroyers in the Sea of Japan are equipped with advanced radar equipment able to track multiple targets and carry missiles designed to take out targets at the edge of space. - Yahoo.
U.S. Send Ballistic Missile Destroyers To Counter Threat After Pyongyang Announces "New" Nuclear Test
This picture taken by North Korea's
official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 1, 2014 shows North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering a speech before the commanding
officers of the combined units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in
Samjiyong in North Korea's Ryaggang province.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to
Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two
additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North
Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbours.
In unusually forceful remarks about China, Hagel drew a direct line
between Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region and the ongoing
territorial disputes between China, Japan and others over remote islands
in the East China Sea.
“I think we’re seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect and intimidation and coercion in Europe today with what the Russians have done with Ukraine,” Hagel told reporters after a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. “We must be very careful and we must be very clear, all nations of the world, that in the 21st century this will not stand, you cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe.”
Hagel, who will travel to China later this week, called the Asian nation a “great power,” and added, “with this power comes new and wider responsibilities as to how you use that power, how you employ that military power.”
He said he will talk to the Chinese about having respect for their neighbours, and said, “coercion, intimidation is a very deadly thing that leads only to conflict. All nations, all people deserve respect no matter how large or how small.”
Still, he said he looks forward to having an honest, straightforward
dialogue with the Chinese to talk about ways the two nations and their
militaries can work better together.
The announcement of the deployments of additional destroyers to Japan
came as tensions with North Korea spiked again, with Pyongyang
continuing to threaten additional missile and nuclear tests. - National Post.
April 04, 2014 - KOREAN PENINSULA - South Korea has successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile
capable of delivering a payload of one ton to any part of North Korea,
the country’s defense ministry said.
AFP Photo/South Korean Defence Ministry
“We test-fired it and we succeeded,” Kim Min-seok,
spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, is cited as
saying by Reuters.
Friday’s announcement is likely to add to the latest tensions on
the Korean Peninsula, as the new missile’s range of 500
kilometers sees a significant boost to the South’s strike
capability.
The rocket was developed in accordance with a 2012 agreement
between Seoul and Washington, which allows South Korea to make
800 kilometer-range missiles.
Previously, the South had voluntary accepted a 300-kilometer
limit on the range of its ballistic missiles in exchange for
guarantees of a nuclear “umbrella” from the US in case
of an atomic attack.
But Seoul kept arguing that the limits must be extended due to
the North’s nuclear-armed missile program.
The new missiles will enable strikes against the weapons and
military installations in the furthest parts of North Korea from
any location in the South if necessary, Kim stressed.
“And we’re going to make 800-kilometer missiles,” the
spokesman added, emphasizing Seoul’s intention to take maximum
advantage of the 2012 deal.
According to AFP, the test-launch was carried out on March 23,
just two days ahead of North Korea testing two medium-range
ballistic missiles capable of striking targets in Japan.
The military is expected to commission the new missile into
service next year, a defense ministry source told the Chosun Ilbo
newspaper.
The 500 kilometer range is still shorter than North Korea’s major
ballistic missiles, but the South’s rocket is a lot more
accurate.
Its hit radius is just a few dozen meters, while the Scud and
Rodong missiles recently tested by Pyongyang have an accuracy
ranging from several hundreds meters to a kilometer, the paper
stressed.
The thaw in relations between North and South, which saw the
sides holding rare high-level talks in February, appeared to be a
short one as both sides resumed missile tests.
On Monday, North Korea conducted a live-fire drill along the
disputed maritime border, sending over 100 shells into the
South’s waters. While South Korean forces responded by firing 300
rounds of its own into the North’s maritime belt.
Seoul is also investigating two Northern drones that crashed near
its border, with evidence suggesting that one of the unmanned
aircrafts flew directly over the South’s presidential palace.
The two Koreas technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in a truce, rather than a peace treaty. - RT.
April 01, 2014 - NORTH KOREA- A magnitude five earthquake has been detected 132km (80 miles) from the Korean peninsula early on Tuesday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has said.
The quake comes one day after North and South Korea traded fire into waters along the disputed Northern Limit LinePhoto: REUTERS
The quake, which was said to have occurred at approximately 03:48 local time, took place at a depth of nearly 16km (10 miles) in the sea west of the Korean peninsula – just days after North Korea threatened to carry out a “new form” of nuclear test.
While North Korean nuclear tests have previously been detected by the USGS quake monitoring center, the location and depth of the earthquake did not immediately suggest North Korean nuclear testing was the cause.
Although its December 2012 test M5.1 shockwave was similar in size to Tuesday’s 5.0M event, it was detected by geological surveys in China and the US as having occurred in a North Korean mountain range well known for weapons testing, and at a depth of only 1km.
On Sunday, North Korea threatened to carry out a “new form” of nuclear test, but did not clarify what it meant. Since then some observers have suggested that, angry with recent United Nations Security Council discussions about missile testing last week, Pyongyang may test a fourth nuclear device in the coming months.
On Monday, the two Koreas fired hundreds of rounds of artillery into waters along the disputed Northern Limit Line.
North Korea warned its southern neighbour at short-notice that it would commence the live fire drills, which some analysts said was Pyongyang’s way of protesting ongoing joint US – South Korea military drills.
Previously, North Korea has also warned its neighbours of impeding nuclear tests, usually also at short-notice. - Telegraph.
March 31, 2014 - KOREAN PENINSULA - North Korean shells have landed in South Korean waters, prompting
Seoul to open fire across a disputed border zone. North Korea announced
plans early on Monday morning to conduct military exercises along the
western maritime boundary.
Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps throw smoke
bombs as they move to land on shore
during a U.S.-South Korea joint
landing operation drill in Pohang March 31, 2014. (Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji)
The North fired several artillery shells in territory north of
the North Limit Line in the Yellow Sea at 12:15pm local time
(03:15 GMT), reports South Korean news agency Yonhap. After
several shells landed south of the border, South Korean military
opened fire with K-9 self-propelled howitzers.
"Some of the shells fired by North Korea dropped in our area and our
side responded with fire," a military spokesman told AFP news agency,
adding that for the moment both sides were firing into the sea.
A man watches a television news program reporting about North Korea's
plan to conduct live-fire drills, at a Seoul train
station in Seoul,
South Korea, Monday, March 31, 2014. South Korea said North Korea has
announced plans to conduct
live-fire drills near the rivals' disputed
western sea boundary. Seoul's Defense Ministry said North Korea says it
will
conduct firing drills in seven areas north of the sea boundary.
Seoul responded that it will strongly react if provoked.
The writing
reads "Nort | ASSOCIATED PRESS
The South Korean Ministry of Defense said that North Korea had fired off 500 rounds into southern territory and the South responded with 300 rounds.
Earlier on Monday, the North Korean People’s Army warned their southern counterparts that military drills would be conducted in seven border regions.
U.S. and South Korean marines participate in a U.S.-South Korea joint
landing operation drill
in Pohang March 31, 2014 (Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji)
"North Korea demanded South Korea control its vessels in seven regions north of the NLL before it holds the live-fire drills," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said in a statement. "We have banned vessels from entering the training zone for the safety of residents and sailors."
The North has drawn international condemnation over the last couple of weeks over its ballistic missile tests. Last week the UN Security Council warned Pyongyang that there would be consequences if it continued testing its missile technology. The Security Council passed a resolution in 2006 that prohibits the testing of ballistic missile technology by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang regards its missile tests as an act of protest against South Korea’s ongoing joint military drills with the US, which it calls a rehearsal for an invasion.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photo: AP
‘New form’ of nuclear test
Pyongyang stepped up its bellicose rhetoric on Sunday and threatened to carry out a “new form” of nuclear test. Giving no further information as to the nature of the new tests, the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement, decrying the UN’s condemnation of its ballistic missile tests which it considers as purely “defensive.”
In response, Pyongyang said it will employ “more diversified nuclear deterrence,” which would be used for hitting medium- and long-range targets “with a variety of striking power.”
“We would not rule out a new form of nuclear test for bolstering up our nuclear deterrence,” said the Foreign Ministry in an official statement published on the KNCA news agency website.
North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February of last year, prompting Washington to ratchet up the economic sanctions on the Asian nation. Pyongyang also carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 allegedly using a small stockpile of plutonium. The North also claims to be running a uranium enrichment program, fueling fears in the region that it will be able to produce fuel for atomic bombs. - RT.
March 26, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea test-fired two medium range ballistic missiles in a move
violating a UN Security Council ban. The launches come after test-firing
of short range rockets, and coincide with annual joint US-South Korea
war games.
A North Korean Taepodong-class missile (AFP Photo / Ed Jones)
The unannounced launches on Wednesday morning came less than ten minutes apart. The missiles were fired from Sukchon in the west of the country and flew over North Korea and into the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Defense Ministry reported.
The missiles flew some 650 km rising as high as 160 km and traveling at over Mach 7, said ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok. This indicates the missiles were of the Rodong class, a single-stage liquid-propelled ballistic missile with an estimated range of up to 900 km, which can be fired from a mobile launcher.
"The missile launch constitutes provocations that violate the UN Security Council resolutions and add tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region," South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement. "The government calls on the North to immediately halt such provocations and fully comply with its obligations and promises with the international community."
A 2006 resolution of the UNSC, which was passed in the wake of its first nuclear test, prohibits North Korea from developing ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang defied the ban on several occasions. The latest example was the successful space launch of a satellite in 2012, which many countries saw as a veiled test of a long-range ballistic missile with military needs in mind.
Rodong launches are rare in North Korea, which has tested the missile twice, in July 2006 and in July 2009. North Korea is believed to have between 50 and 100 missiles of the type.
AFP Photo / KNS
The launches were criticized by the US and Japan, although Tokyo stressed that they will not affect planned talks with Pyongyang scheduled later this month. China called all relevant parties to show restraint and take steps to relax regional tensions.
The ballistic missile test comes shortly after North Korea conducted several launches of short-range missiles. South Korean military believe that the demonstration of force comes in response to joint war exercises.
"The North's pre-dawn missile launch is believed to be aimed at protesting against South Korea-US joint military exercises and demonstrating its infiltration capability in a show of force," Kim said.
The two-week exercises called Key Resolve ended in early March while the two-month training program Foal Eagle runs through mid-April. Washington and Seoul conduct such exercises annually, while Pyongyang protest them, saying the accompanying build-up of troops is a threat to its national security.
The launches on Wednesday came hours after a joint press conference in The Hague, where leaders of South Korea, the US and Japan held trilateral talks on the sidelines of a global nuclear forum.
They also coincide with the commemoration in South Korea of the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the warship Cheonan, in which 42 sailors were killed. Seoul says North Korea torpedoed the ship as it was taking part in naval exercises, an allegation that Pyongyang denies. - RT.
March 24, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea has fired 30 short-range missiles into the sea, South
Korean military officials said, marking the second time in under a week
that the isolated nation has done so amid ongoing joint US-South Korean
military drills.
Reuters/KCNA
South Korea’s Yonhap news reported that the missiles were fired in three consecutive groups and are thought to have flown approximately 40 miles into the ocean. The exercise began at 4:00 a.m. local time from the east coast of North Korea, according to the South Korean joint chiefs of staff.
It comes just days after South Korea said the North fired 25 short-range missiles 40 miles into the Sea of Japan. The US State Department condemned the exercise, with spokeswoman Jen Psaki asking Pyongyang to reconsider its actions.
The rockets, according to Reuters, are believed to be old Soviet-developed FROG rockets that the small nation has had since the 1960s.
While United Nations sanctions against North Korea do not prohibit short-range missile tests, South Korea has called the tests a “reckless provocation.” Pyongyang did conduct its third nuclear weapons test early last year, perhaps inspired by a successful 2012 long-range rocket test that much of the international community said was intended display technology that could be used on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Both of those actions are banned under UN sanctions.
It is widely believed that the short-range tests are an armed protest against the joint military drills between the US and South Korea each year. The annual event began last month, when a combined total of 12,700 troops from both countries simulated air, ground, and naval training.
Despite Pyongyang’s concern, both nations claim the drills are purely defensive. This year’s event came at a time of uncharacteristically warm relations between the North and South.
Pyongyang and Seoul were unable for three years to agree on conditions that would allow the reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. That changed last month, when elderly Koreans traveled from throughout the peninsula to visit with their relatives.
The international conversation was less sociable earlier this week when China condemned a UN report that accused Pyongyang of committing mass killings, torture, and other crimes against humanity on a scale comparable to the Nazi-era atrocities.
Yet Chen Chuandong, a counselor at China’s mission at the UN Human Rights Council, told Reuters the allegations were “divorced from reality” because a North Korean delegation was not there to defend the country.
Retired Australian Judge Michael Kirby, the chief author of the report, said that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un should be tried in front of the International Criminal Court because of prison camps that are believed to hold up to 120,000 people.
Still, Japan is said to have agreed to formal talks with North Korea for the first time in more than a year. Formal dialogue has been suspended since the long-range rocket launch in 2012, although negotiations on a wide range of issues could continue again as soon as next month.
“Our goal is to properly settle outstanding issues of both sides,” Ryu Song-il, chief of Japanese affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said, according to North Korea’s state Kyodo News agency. “I believe it is important that relations between the two countries can be improved soon.” - RT.
March 16, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea fired 18 short-range rockets into the sea off its east
coast Sunday, South Korean officials said, in an apparent continuation
of protests against ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills.
March 3, 2014: South Korean Army's 130mm multiple rocket launchers fire
live rounds during an exercise
against possible attacks from North Korea
in Goseong, South Korea. (AP/YONHAP)
Such short-range rocket tests are usually considered routine, as opposed to North Korean long-range rocket or nuclear tests, which are internationally condemned as provocations. North Korea has conducted a string of similar short-range launches in recent weeks that have coincided with the annual military drills by allies Washington and Seoul.
North Korea says the drills are preparation for an invasion. The allies say the exercises, which last year prompted North Korean threats of nuclear war against the South and the United States, are routine and defensive in nature.
An unidentified North Korean missile is displayed during a military
parade past Kim Il-Sung square marking the 60th anniversary of the
Korean war armistice in Pyongyang on July 27, 2013.
Outside analysts say the North is taking a softer stance toward the U.S.-South Korean military drills this year because it wants better ties with the outside world to revive its struggling economy. North Korea's weeks-long tirade of war rhetoric against Washington and Seoul last spring followed international condemnation of its third nuclear test, in February 2013.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said the type of rockets North Korea launched Sunday wasn't yet clear.
Earlier this month, Seoul said a North Korean artillery launch happened minutes before a Chinese commercial plane reportedly carrying 202 people flew in the same area.
Pyongyang has said that its recent rocket drills are part of regular training and are mindful of international navigation.
The Korean Peninsula remains officially at war because the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. - FOX News.
March 05, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea has tested a new multiple-rocket launcher with a range long enough to strike major US and South Korean military bases, South Korean military officials said.
South Koreans watch a TV report on the North's missile test at a Seoul railway station. Photo: AP
Four rockets were launched on Tuesday from Wonsan, a coastal city east of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, and flew 150 kilometres to the north-east before crashing into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, a South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman said.
Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea tested an older multiple-rocket launcher, firing three rockets that flew 50 kilometres off its east coast, the spokesman said.
The tests were seen as Pyongyang's latest show of force as the US and South Korea conduct annual joint military exercises, to which the North strongly objects. Last Thursday, North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles from its east coast. On Monday, it fired another short-range ballistic missile that flew 500 kilometres.
"We believe this is an intentional provocation to raise tensions," the South Korean ministry spokesman said.
Despite its moribund economy, North Korea has been conducting a vigorous missile and rocket program, trying to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. But the apparent test of the new rocket launcher on Tuesday sparked special interest in South Korea.
Apart from its nuclear arms, North Korea's multiple-rocket launchers and artillery pieces are the weapons most feared in the South. The North is estimated to have 13,000 of them clustered on the inter-Korean border, less than 50 kilometres from Seoul. The North's occasional threats over the years to turn the South Korean capital into a "sea of fire" are presumed to be references to these weapons.
The North's older rocket launchers have a range of 60 kilometres, putting Seoul and its 10 million people within range. Partly for this reason, the US and South Korea have situated major air force and other military bases well south of the capital. But South Korean military intelligence has long suspected the North of developing a longer-range rocket launcher that could reach some of the bases.
The US and South Korea have been building up their ability to counter the North's rocket and artillery threat in recent years, especially since the North's artillery attack on a South Korean border island in 2010 which killed four people.
South Korea recently deployed Israeli-designed Spike missiles and their mobile launchers on its western border islands. The Spike missiles, with a range of 20 kilometres, target North Korean coastal guns and rocket batteries. But the range of North Korea's new multiple-rocket launcher means that the North can keep the launchers outside the range of the Spike missiles and still be able to hit Seoul. - The Age.
March 03, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea has test fired two short-range missiles off the east coast into the Sea of Japan, the South’s Yonhap news agency has reported.
File photo.
The test firing is the second in a series of launches that Seoul has denounced as a calculated provocation.
It followed a similar test firing of four short-range Scud missiles on Thursday — just days after South Korea and the United States launched their annual joint military exercises.
According to the South’s defence ministry, Thursday’s tests were of Scud-type missiles at the longer edge of the short-range spectrum, with an estimated reach of 300-800 kilometres — capable of striking any target in the South.
It is not unusual for North Korea to carry out such tests — especially to register its displeasure at the annual military drills — and they often go unreported by South Korea.
Washington had initially played down Thursday’s firings, but later suggested they violated UN sanctions imposed on the North’s missile program.
Two UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea “from launching any ballistic missile, and this includes any Scud missile”, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said on Friday.
The South’s defence ministry had called last week’s tests a “calculated, provocative act’’.
But they are unlikely to trigger a significant rise in military tensions, with observers suggesting they amount to little more than a display of North Korean frustration over the annual drills in the South.
WATCH: North Korea test-fires short-range missiles.
Pyongyang routinely condemns the joint exercises, which began last week and run until mid-April, as provocative rehearsals for invasion.
Last year, they coincided with a sharp and unusually protracted surge in cross-border tensions, that saw North Korea issuing apocalyptic threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes.
By contrast, this year’s drills began as relations between Seoul and Pyongyang were enjoying something of a thaw.
They overlapped with the end of the first reunion for more than three years of families divided by the Korean War, an event that raised hopes of greater cross-border cooperation.
Pyongyang had initially insisted that the joint exercises be postponed until after the reunions finished. But Seoul refused and - in a rare concession - the North allowed the family gatherings on its territory to go ahead as scheduled.
On guard ... An army soldier works on
an armoured vehicle during a military exercise in Yeoncheon, South
Korea near the border with North Korea on Friday. Picture: AP Photo/Ahn
Young-joinSource: AP
Most analysts believe the missile tests reflect Pyongyang’s need to flex its muscles in the wake of the reunion compromise.
Last week also saw an incursion by a North Korean patrol boat across the disputed Yellow Sea border that has been the scene of brief but bloody naval clashes in the past.
No shots were fired and the vessel retreated to its side of the boundary after repeated warnings from the South Korean navy. - Herald Sun.
February 27, 2014 - NORTH KOREA - North Korea fired
four short-range missiles over the sea off its east coast on Thursday, a
media official at South Korea's Defence Ministry said, while providing
no information on the purpose of the firing.
File photo.
North Korea fired the missiles at 5:42 p.m. (0342 ET) from a mountain site just north of the border with South Korea, the official said.
Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon as part of military exercises.
The firing came days after the beginning of annual joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises which the North routinely denounces as preparation for war.
The North was angered this month when a nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bomber made a sortie over South Korea, though the flight did not trigger a sharp escalation of military tension.
The South's Yonhap News Agency said the missiles fired on Thursday were believed to be Scud short-range missiles, with a range of about 200 km (125 miles), which means they can hit targets in South Korea but can not reach Japan.
Officials in Japan and North Korea's neighbor and only ally, China, were not available for comment.
A photo released by
the North Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, January 23, shows
North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a North Korean army unit
during a winter drill.
South Korea's YTN news channel reported on Thursday that North Korea fired four missiles with an estimated range of 150 km - 160 km (93-100 miles) on February 21.
Ties between the two Koreas are often fraught but this month, hundreds of South Koreans crossed into the North to be reunited with family members not seen since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The reunions, a rare show of cooperation between the two Koreas, were held despite North Korean anger over joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Last year, the exercises triggered weeks of North Korean threats of war.
This week, South Korea offered North Korea help with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in pigs, which would be the first government-level humanitarian help since 2010. - Reuters.
December 06, 2012 - TEXAS, UNITED STATES - Reports of earthquake-like tremors starting Tuesday afternoon and continuing until early Wednesday can’t be confirmed as true earthquakes, but experts can’t say what it is, either. “We started getting calls at 3:09 p.m. (Tuesday),” said Eric Meyers, Navarro County Emergency Coordinator. “The first calls were north of Corsicana in the Hickory Hollow area with two separate residents out there reporting unusual tremors being felt along with a rumbling type of noise.” After checking with the U.S. Geological Survey website, Meyers also checked with the National Weather Service and state emergency management offices.
“About two hours later, approximately five o’clock, there were additional reports in the same area of heavier tremors, the same vicinity, the same residents,” Meyers said. Another report came from the western part of the county, near Navarro Mills. After the second round of reports, Meyers posted it on Facebook and suddenly there were more reports, but coming from all over, including Streetman, Purdon, Pursley and Dawson. Some of the reports came from as far away as Freestone and Limestone counties. The line runs about 50 to 60 miles long, and the tremors didn’t act like any other thing except perhaps earthquake booms, which are shallow sometimes undetectable tremors similar to what’s been happening locally. The range and the description of houses “popping” and shaking didn’t seem to fit anything, including the disturbances reported around fracking drill-sites. “This is an unexplained event likely of a natural origin,” Meyers said. “We can’t come up with a point of origin or a cause or explanation of why this is happening.”
Still, the National Earthquake Information Center, part of the U.S. Geological Survey, located in Golden, Colo., didn’t see anything on its monitors, according to Don Blakeman, an earthquake analyst at the center. “We had a call earlier, apparently folks have been feeling something out there for about a day, but we couldn’t find anything, we didn’t see anything on our records,” Blakeman said. “That doesn’t mean something hasn’t happened, but we don’t know what it is.” If the tremors had been as large as the small quakes that took place around Dallas they would have been detected on their equipment, Blakeman said. “Little earthquakes don’t automatically trigger the computer’s earthquake location,” he said. “If we have an exact time, though, we can scan the records for it.” Many tremors aren’t necessarily earthquakes but can have man-made causes, both men said. “We were trying to determine what was going on, any type of military exercises at a higher level than locally, we worked on this throughout the night and we eliminated everything we could think of and continued to do some through today,” Meyers said. “We went through the process of elimination on what it could be and ruled out all these different things,” he said. “Whatever it was hasn’t occurred since 4 a.m. Wednesday. It’s unusual, to say the least.” - Corsicana Daily Sun.
