. Medical and Hospital News .




NUKEWARS
S. Korea vows to retaliate if provoked by North
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) March 6, 2013


Japan, S.Korea leaders affirm cooperation over N.Korea
Tokyo (AFP) March 6, 2013 - South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held telephone talks Wednesday and agreed to co-operate on their reaction to North Korea's latest nuclear test last month.

In their brief conversation, the first since Park took office last month, the two leaders agreed to continue working with Washington to push for a UN resolution on Pyongyang, according to major Japanese media, including Jiji Press and the Nikkei.

Park stressed the importance of the history between the two nations, indirectly reminding Abe about long-held South Korean animosity over Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula, the reports said.

Abe meanwhile called on South Korea's first female leader to jointly build "future-oriented" relations while taking account of history, they said.

Abe also invited Park to visit Japan, the Nikkei said.

At the United Nations on Tuesday, the United States and China called on the Security Council to sanction North Korean diplomats and "illicit" cash transfers to step up pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.

Diplomats said a vote on the sanctions resolution could be held on Thursday.

South Korea warned Wednesday that it would retaliate against any provocation from North Korea, a day after the North threatened to tear up the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.

"If North Korea carries out provocations that threaten the lives and safety of South Koreans, our military will carry out strong and resolute retaliations," Army General Kim Yong-Hyun told reporters.

Kim's briefing followed North Korea's announcement on Tuesday that it would "completely declare invalid" the armistice agreement in response to moves to toughen UN sanctions after its recent nuclear test.

The announcement, attributed to the supreme command spokesman, also threatened an undefined "strike of justice" against a target of the North's choosing.

Because the armistice ending the 1950-53 conflict was not followed by a peace treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war, with the ceasefire agreement theoretically the only barrier to a resumption of full hostilities.

The North has previously threatened to rip up the agreement and the truce has not prevented several bloody land and sea border clashes.

But the latest threat comes at a time of particularly heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, following the North's successful launch of a long range rocket in December and its nuclear test last month.

Tuesday's army statement included a pointed mention of North Korea possessing "lighter and smaller nukes" than before.

The UN Security Council is expected to adopt tougher sanctions against the North this week -- a move likely to provoke a response from Pyongyang, which is also angry about joint US-South Korean military drills.

China called for restraint and said the armistice agreement played an important role in safeguarding peace on the peninsula.

A UN resolution was "still being discussed", its foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, adding Beijing supports the UN Security Council in making a "necessary and proportionate" response.

"At the same time we hope such action can be conducive to peace and stability and non-proliferation of the Korean peninsula," she said.

General Kim, the director general of operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said South Korean retaliation would not only target the "origin of provocation" but also the North's commanding forces.

Last month the South's military released video footage of a newly deployed cruise missile that it could carry out high precision strikes on command centres anywhere in North Korea.

An annual US-South Korea exercise known as Foal Eagle began on March 1 and will run until April 30, involving more than 10,000 US troops along with a far greater number of South Korean personnel.

And a largely computer-simulated joint exercise called Key Resolve will be held from March 11-21.

The North's statement denounced the drills as the "most dangerous nuclear war manoeuvres... and the most undisguised military provocation".

"This land is neither the Balkans nor Iraq and Libya," the statement said, warning of the North's ability to launch "diversified precision nuclear strikes" in response.

South Korea's defence ministry says the North is expected next week to launch its own large-scale military exercise involving the three main branches of its armed forces.

The tension will be further ramped up if the UN Security Council goes ahead as expected this week and places North Korea under one of the toughest sanctions regimes ever ordered as a punishment for its nuclear test.

The sanctions, hammered out between the United States and the North's only major ally China, are believed to target the illicit activities of North Korean diplomats, banking relationships and bulk crash transfers.

They would also make searches of suspect ships compulsory and order UN members to refuse access to planes suspected of carrying banned material to or from North Korea.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





NUKEWARS
US, China call for new UN sanctions on N.Korea
United Nations (AFP) March 5, 2013
The United States and China on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to sanction North Korean diplomats and "illicit" cash transfers to step up pressure on Pyongyang's nuclear program. But the isolated North fueled tensions, threatening to scrap an armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War and warning that it could launch "strong" counter-measures against what it called US hostility. ... read more


NUKEWARS
Fukushima lags in Japan tsunami recovery: official

Living through a tornado does not shake optimism

Japan riled by WHO's Fukushima cancer warning

Chernobyl plant building to be covered

NUKEWARS
Tracking trains with satellite precision

USAF Awards Lockheed Martin Contracts to Begin Work on Next Set of GPS III Satellites

Telit Offers COMBO 2G Chip For Multi Satellite Positioning Receiver

Boeing Awarded USAF Contract to Continue GPS Modernization

NUKEWARS
After the human genome project: The human microbiome project

Walker's World: The time for women

Human cognition depends upon slow-firing neurons

Blueprint for an artificial brain

NUKEWARS
Scientists call for legal trade in rhino horn

Marauding lions kill two in Zimbabwe

International ban on polar bear trade rejected

Polar bear trade ban voted down

NUKEWARS
Myanmar shelter offers refuge for HIV patients

Daily-dose HIV prevention fails for African women: study

HIV 'cure' in infancy, caution experts

Cambodia orders action to stop deadly bird flu

NUKEWARS
China divorces spike to escape property tax

Tibetan self-immolators inspire Chinese painter

Chinese activist now in US: State Dept

China labour camp reform on agenda as parliament meets

NUKEWARS
US court convicts Somali pirates in navy ship attack

Ukraine to join NATO anti-piracy mission

16 gunmen killed in Thai military base attack: army

Japan police arrest mobster in Fukushima clean-up

NUKEWARS
Outside View: The Y2K Sequester?

Outside View: Can U.S. bull market endure

China promises growth but target unchanged

Outside View: Bringing facts to budget




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement