NKorea warns US of 'thousand-fold' military action

[larrymeyer]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Jun 17, 6:11 AM EDT
NKorea warns US of 'thousand-fold' military action

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press Writer



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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea warned Wednesday of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation against the U.S. and its allies if provoked, the latest threat in a drumbeat of rhetoric in defense of its rogue nuclear program.

Japanese and South Korean news reports said North Korea is preparing an additional site for test-firing a long-range missile that experts say could be capable of striking the United States. Russia's deputy defense minister reportedly said it would shoot down any missile headed its way.

The warning of a military strike, carried by the North's state media, came hours after President Barack Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that recent U.N. sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.

Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Washington Tuesday for a landmark summit in which the two leaders agreed to build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang claims its nuclear bombs are a deterrent against the United States and accuses Washington of plotting with Seoul to topple its secretive regime - led by the unpredictable dictator Kim Jong Il who is reportedly preparing to hand over power to his 26-year-old youngest son.

"If the U.S. and its followers infringe upon our republic's sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred- or one thousand-fold retaliation with merciless military strike," the government-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary.

The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, also called Obama "a hypocrite" for advocating a nuclear-free world while making "frantic efforts" to develop new nuclear weapons at home.

"The nuclear program is not the monopoly of the U.S.," it said.

The report did not mention the Obama-Lee summit.

Attention has been focused on North Korea since it conducted a nuclear test, its second, on May 25 in defiance of the United Nations. The U.N. Security Council responded by toughening an arms embargo, authorizing ship searches for nuclear and ballistic missile cargo and depriving the regime of the financing used to build its nuclear program.

South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday that the North has begun withdrawing money from its bank accounts in the Chinese territory of Macau and elsewhere, for fear they would be frozen under the U.N. sanctions.

But Lim Eul-chul, a research professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University and an expert on North Korea, cast doubt on the report. He said the North likely had decreased its exposure to banks in Macau sharply after its funds were previously frozen there under U.S. sanctions.

"They know how to keep and secure their money," Lim said, adding that North Korea can effectively hide funds in accounts in mainland China opened in the name of third parties such as local Chinese companies and ethnic Korean Chinese citizens.

Separately, Japan's Sankei newspaper said Wednesday that the North has been showing signs of preparing two sites - the Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast and the Musudan-ni site on the northeastern coast - from where a long-range missile could be launched.

It was earlier thought that any launch would come only from the northwest.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper also carried a similar report Wednesday, quoting an unidentified government official as saying that a special train that carried a long-range missile to the northwestern site has recently moved to the northeastern site.

But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea has been running an empty cargo train from a weapons factory to the two sites.

Yonhap quoted an unnamed government official as saying the movement is aimed at "confusing" foreign intelligence agencies.

Still, Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul, said the possibility of the North conducting a long-range missile test is high unless tension with the U.S. "is dramatically reduced."

In Moscow, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Popovkin as saying that if a North Korean missile comes toward Russia "we will see it and shoot it down."

South Korea's Unification Ministry, Finance Ministry, Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service said they could not confirm the reports on money withdrawals or on the missiles, which ostensibly can carry a nuclear warhead. It remains unclear whether they have developed a nuclear device small enough to be carried on a missile.

North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least half a dozen atomic bombs. It revealed last week that it is also producing enriched uranium. The two materials are key ingredients for making atomic bombs.

Some analysts believe that the North's rhetoric is aimed at showing people at home that their government can defy the powerful U.S., and eventually to give credit for it to Kim's reported heir apparent, Kim Jong Un. The analysts say this would make Jong Un's ascent to the top acceptable to the North Koreans.

[larrymeyer]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/as...825973810.html


North Korea issues military threat


North and South Korean militaries continue to be on alert amid rising tensions in the region [AFP]

North Korea has warned of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation against the US and its allies if provoked, the latest threat in its rhetoric aimed at defending its nuclear activities.

The was carried by the country's state media on Wednesday just hours after Barack Obama, the US president, declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world.

Obama pledged that new UN sanctions on the country will be aggressively enforced.

"If the US and its followers infringe upon our republic's sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred- or one thousand-fold retaliation with merciless military strike," the state-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary.

The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), also called Obama "a hypocrite" for advocating a nuclear-free world while making "frantic efforts" to develop new nuclear weapons at home.

"The nuclear programme is not the monopoly of only the US," it said.

Rodong Sinmun, another state-owned newspaper, accused the US of deploying new weapons in South Korea and other neighbouring countries to invade the North.

"The acute situation on the Korean peninsula is calling on our military and people to further bolster our war deterrence with the high-profile national awakening," said the Rodong Sinmun commentary, also carried by KCNA.

International pressure continues to mount on the North Korean leadership since it conducted a nuclear test - its second - on May 25 in defiance of the United Nations.

The UN Security Council responded by toughening an arms embargo against North Korea and authorising ship searches in an attempt to thwart its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

The UN has also imposed financial sanctions on the country, further isolating an already impoverished nation.

Rapid withdrawal

In response, North Korea is rushing to withdraw money from its overseas bank accounts, South Korean media reports suggest.

The South's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in Beijing, said the North had begun withdrawing funds from accounts in Macau and elsewhere for fear they would be frozen.

The paper said funds were being pulled out of almost all the communist state's foreign accounts held either by individuals or trading firms.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 passed last Friday calls on UN
member states to expand sanctions first imposed on the North after its initial nuclear test in 2006.

Last week, before the resolution was passed, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Seoul had given Washington details of at least 10 bank accounts held by North Koreans in China, Switzerland and elsewhere.

It said the accounts were suspected of being used for transactions related to counterfeiting, drug-dealing and money-laundering.

In 2005, the US Treasury Department blacklisted Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) on suspicion of money-laundering and handling North Korea's counterfeit notes.

The move effectively froze Pyongyang's access to some $25m in BDA and led other nations to cut off financial dealings with the North.

The US freed the BDA funds in 2007 amid progress on a six-nation nuclear disarmament pact, which has now effectively collapsed.

[ehidle]

*yawn*

****

[adymond]

Fuck that short little bastard. I bet the ZRT could conquer North Korea with a case of twinkies, a case of ding dongs, a case of krispy kream, and $0.32.

That is unless they have China covering their backs.

[Bmarshall91]

Fuck that short little bastard. I bet the ZRT could conquer North Korea with a case of twinkies, a case of ding dongs, a case of krispy kream, and $0.32.

That is unless they have China covering their backs.

In that case we'd need $0.33!!!

[ChamberedRound]

*yawn*

****

+1. This is grandstanding at its finest. Unless they get backing from another country, they have NO chance of standing up to most of their neighbors, much less the US.

Fuck that short little bastard. I bet the ZRT could conquer North Korea with a case of twinkies, a case of ding dongs, a case of krispy kream, and $0.32.

That is unless they have China covering their backs.

I doubt China will run screen for them. If anything, China is looking to figure out how to use this to their advantage. The only help China will give will be on China's terms, and I doubt those terms will be favorable to anyone but the Chinese. Even then, I think China will side with the US; given that they have LOTS of money invested in the US that they're concerned they may lose due to the economic situation, I think China will be more worried about what we think than anything else.

[autotech6506]

This dude is an idiot. We can fly a stealth bomber over to korea and drop a nuke without him even knowing. Meanwhile, they don't even really know if their nukes will work. He's really got nothing.

[adymond]

This dude is an idiot. We can fly a stealth bomber over to korea and drop a nuke without him even knowing. Meanwhile, they don't even really know if their nukes will work. He's really got nothing.

Not true! He has fancy shoes with like 4" lifts built into them.

[BIGSHOVEL]

MMMM, Korean it's whats for dinner.

[TXDMERC73]

hell yeah ZRT could kick their asses, north korea has guns that are rusted shut since the korean war..i have a NEWS FLASH for North Korea ... BRING IT ON!