Medical and Hospital News  
NUKEWARS
US, South Korea start war games at sea

Chinese foreign minister urges restraint on Korean peninsula
Vienna (AFP) July 25, 2010 - China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called for restraint from all parties Sunday, as the US and South Korea launched a major naval exercise despite threats of nuclear retaliation by North Korea. "All involved parties should commit to providing peace and security on the Korean peninsula," Yang told a joint press conference in Vienna, after meeting with his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger. Washington and Seoul said the war games, which began Sunday in the Sea of Japan, were meant as a message to Pyongyang to cease its aggressive behaviour, following allegations it torpedoed a South Korean warship in March. But North Korea threatened to respond with nuclear weapons.

Yang told journalists that Pyongyang should return to so-called six-party talks, aimed at dismantling its nuclear programme but stalled since December 2008, the Austrian Press Agency reported. He also insisted that world powers should intensify diplomatic talks on Iran's nuclear programme, APA said. The UN Security Council imposed a new set of sanctions on Tehran in early June, and EU ministers were due to approve further sanctions on Monday in a bid to lure Iran back to the negotiating table over its disputed nuclear programme. Yang and Spindelegger met briefly Sunday afternoon to discuss bilateral relations and their cooperation at the UN Security Council, where Austria currently holds a non-permanent seat. The Chinese foreign minister was due to attend the opening of the Salzburg Festival Sunday evening before meeting with Austrian President Heinz Fischer on Monday.
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) July 26, 2010
The United States and South Korea on Sunday launched a major naval exercise involving a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier in the Sea of Japan despite North Korea's threats of nuclear retaliation.

The war games are the first in a series intended "to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behaviour must stop," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and South Korean Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young have said.

Seoul and Washington, citing the findings of a multinational investigation, accuse Pyongyang's communist regime of torpedoing a South Korean warship near the tense Yellow Sea border in March.

North Korea denies involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan, which claimed 46 lives.

The US-led United Nations Command said the four-day drill would involve about 20 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, and 200 fixed-wing aircraft.

Around 8,000 service personnel from the two allies were to take part in the show of strength.

"The USS George Washington left the southern port of Busan around 7:00 am Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday). It's sailing towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea) for the exercise," a US military spokesman told AFP earlier.

Officials at Seoul's defence ministry said other navy ships had also left Busan and the nearby port of Jinhae for the drill, with some from the US 7th Fleet set to join them off the peninsula's east coast.

The ministry has said the drill had been relocated from the sensitive Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, in deference to Chinese protests.

But future drills would be held in both seas.

North Korea, which has routinely criticised US-South Korean drills as a rehearsal for war, denounced the exercise as "very dangerous sabre-rattling" and threatened to respond with nuclear weapons at the weekend.

Minju Joson, a newspaper published on behalf of the North's cabinet, said the drills were being conducted by "the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet warmongers."

The newspaper also repeated a warning of nuclear retaliation made by Pyongyang's top defence body a day earlier.

"The army and people of the DPRK (North Korea) will take strong retaliatory measures with dignity by dint of their powerful nuclear deterrent, as a spokesman for the DPRK National Defence Commission had declared," it said.

"They will start Korean-style sacred war for retaliation any time they deem it necessary."

Washington has urged the North to tone down its "provocative" statements, while China -- Pyongyang's ally -- called for restraint from all sides.

"All involved parties should commit to providing peace and security on the Korean peninsula," China's foreign minister Yang Jiechi told a joint press conference Sunday in Vienna after meeting his Austrian counterpart.

South Korea's military says it is closely monitoring the North's military moves in border areas but had not detected any unusual activities in the lead-up to the exercises.

Yang Moo-Jin, a professor of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, told AFP that Pyongyang could test-fire long-range missiles or conduct new tests on its diversified nuclear programmes.

"The North may try to either stage a third underground atomic bomb test based on its plutonium-based programme or carry out a nuclear fusion reaction again in a show of force," Yang said.

In May, the North claimed its scientists had carried out a nuclear fusion reaction that could lead to a limitless supply of clean energy. Nuclear fusion can also be employed to make hydrogen bombs.

Pyongyang already said last September that it was in the final stages of experimental uranium enrichment -- a second way of making atomic bombs.

Six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear programmes have been stalled since December 2008.

The North announced it was quitting the forum in April last year and it staged its second atomic weapons test the following month, incurring tougher United Nations sanctions.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



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



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


NUKEWARS
N.Korea threatens nuclear response to naval war games
Seoul (AFP) July 25, 2010
North Korea threatened on Saturday to respond with nuclear weapons to a major US-South Korean naval exercise starting this weekend, saying it was ready for a "retaliatory sacred war". The threat came from the powerful National Defence Commission (NDC), chaired by leader Kim Jong-Il, as tensions grew over the sinking of a South Korean warship which Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang. ... read more







NUKEWARS
Haiti's homeless on the move again as hurricanes loom

Wildfire Prevention Pays Big Dividends In Florida

Asia security forum to boost regional disaster relief

Voodoo rite draws Haitian faithful praying for comfort

NUKEWARS
Magellan Launches Next Gen Of eXplorist

Geospatial Holdings Awarded Pipeline Mapping Project

Lockheed Martin Unveils GPS Exhibit At UN

Tracking System Leads Rescuers To Birds Caught In Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill

NUKEWARS
New Hypothesis For Human Evolution And Human Nature

Studies: Human evolution still going on

Facebook membership hits 500 million mark

The Friend Of My Enemy Is My Enemy

NUKEWARS
Primitive Frogs Do A Belly Flop

Bangladesh zoo mourns 100-year-old elephant

Mosquito-Free

How Do You Make The Perfect Sled Dog

NUKEWARS
New fronts in AIDS war, but funding foe is back

Ageing with HIV: The hidden side of world's AIDS crisis

Prisons emerge as hotspots for AIDS pandemic

Is there a cure for AIDS? Forum lifts a taboo

NUKEWARS
Children of prisoners in China given a fresh start

Fewer Tibetans fleeing to the Dalai Lama

Thousands of people in five-day China protest: report

Tibet's next leader?

NUKEWARS
Gunmen seize 12 sailors in ship attack off Nigeria: navy

Singapore ship with Chinese crew hijacked off Somalia

Sudan says Cyprus 'arms ship' contains mining explosives

Islamists, unpaid troops hit Somali regime

NUKEWARS
'Econophysics' Points Way To Fair Salaries In Free Market

Most EU banks pass stress test

Merkel's summer stress test

China Everbright Bank plans up to 20bln yuan IPO: report


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. 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 SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement