North Korea reacts angrily to US aircraft carrier deployment

Agence France-Presse | march 12, 2003

[HAL9000]

North Korea reacted angrily to a US decision to deploy an aircraft carrier in waters around the Korean peninsula as part of the ongoing joint military drills with South Korea.

Through the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea said the presence of the carrier would make the nuclear crisis even more volatile in the region.

The communist country has condemned the annual US-South Korean war games, codenamed Foal Eagle, which began last week, as a rehearsal for an American strike at its nuclear facilities.

"The 'Foal Eagle' joint military exercise is at its height with the carrier, to be involved in it, rendering the situation on the Korean peninsula so tense that a nuclear war may break out any moment," KCNA said.

Officials here say the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is on its way to waters around the Korean peninsula to take part in the joint military drill involving hundreds of thousands of US and South Korean troops.

"The US should not boast its military muscle," KCNA said. "The DPRK (North Korea) has self-defensive national defence capacity powerful enough to beat back any formidable enemy at a single stroke."

Washington has repeatedly denied having any plans to invade North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions.

Tensions have mounted since the US disclosure in October that North Korea had admitted to running a secret nuclear program in breach of a 1994 bilateral accord.

Pyongyang has since expelled UN weapons inspectors, withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and restarted its mothballed nuclear reactor.

[AFPhys]

Why are they getting so huffy about it?

We'll let them deploy their aircraft carriers there, too!

We're going to give them only one stroke at us though ... we may go back with that one, but they'll regret the rebound.

[American in Israel]

"The US should not boast its military muscle," KCNA said.

Coming from the idiots that said they could nuke America last week I find this funny. I suspect the reason they said that was to cause us to pull a carrier in range of a short range nuke.

[goldstategop]

This is the greatest country in the world. Now let's see them try to trigger another Gulf Of Tonkin.

[kcvl]

10:21 12/03/2003 Last update - 10:21 12/03/2003

Report: North Korea preparing new missile test

By Reuters

WASHINGTON - North Korea was preparing to conduct what would be its third missile test in recent weeks and was expected to give advance warning as early as Wednesday, The Washington Times reported, citing U.S. intelligence officials.

North Korea test-fired a surface-to-ship missile toward the Sea of Japan on Monday and tested a similar short-range missile in the same area on Feb. 25, U.S. and South Korean officials said.

The tests came amid rising tension in the region in a stand-off over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Recent satellite photographs of a North Korean base showed activity that appeared to be preparations for a third missile test flight, The Washington Times reported, quoting officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"There aren't indications of an imminent launch, but it is something they might well do," one U.S. official told the newspaper. A second official said the activity was being watched closely and that there were concerns that a ballistic missile would be tested.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the report.

The isolated North's second missile test was anticipated by Seoul and by Washington since North Korea declared a maritime exclusion zone in the Sea of Japan from March 8-11.

[kcvl]

North Korea wants face-to-face
11/03/2003 12:03 - (SA)

Seoul - North Korea repeated a demand on Tuesday for face-to-face talks with the United States as Washington formally protested to the Stalinist state about a dangerous aerial confrontation.

Washington warned Pyongyang against further provocative steps after four North Korean jets intercepted a US spy plane on March 2 in the most-serious confrontation since the nuclear crisis erupted five months ago.

Richard Boucher of the state department said: "We reiterated our call on the North Koreans to adhere to international standards of behaviour and avoid any further provocative or escalatory steps."

The North Korean fighters flew within 15m of the air force RC-135, 240km off the North Korean coast in international airspace above the Sea of Japan.

The US aircraft returned unharmed to base in Japan after the confrontation.

Boucher said: "We told the North Koreans their provocations ran counter to the international community's clear desire for a peaceful diplomatic path to ensuring a nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula."

US rejects direct talks

North Korea has described the incident as a defensive act to deter "aggressive acts" by the United States.

In Pyongyang, North Korea's official media suggested the crisis inevitably would lead to armed conflict unless the United States agreed to one-on-one talks.

Washington has repeatedly rejected direct talks, saying North Korea's nuclear ambitions concern other nations including China, Japan and South Korea, and the crisis should be settled through multilateral talks.

Washington's protest came as US President George W Bush sought support from China and Japan for multilateral talks aimed at pressing Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear programmes.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi "agreed to continue working for an international approach" to the crisis, said the White House's Ari Fleischer.

The standoff with Pyongyang "is not a bilateral matter. It is not a unilateral matter. It is a matter for all the nations in the region, because the risks are present for all the nations in the region," he added.

Washington and Pyongyang have been locked in a tense stand-off since the crisis erupted in October when Washington said North Korea had admitted to running a secret nuclear programme in breach of a 1994 bilateral accord.

Since then Pyongyang has kicked out international weapons inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and fired up a reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear plant. - Sapa-AFP

[kcvl]

North Korea Warns Clash With US Could Be Inevitable
VOA News
11 Mar 2003, 14:51 UTC


North Korea is warning that a clash with Washington could be unavoidable unless the United States agrees to one-on-one talks about Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Through its state-run media Tuesday, North Korea lashed out at a U.S.-led proposal for multi-lateral talks to resolve the nuclear crisis.

Washington has said other nations must be involved because Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions could have global ramifications.

As the dispute drags on, South Korea's president is calling for stronger military ties with the United States.

Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday the combined U.S. and South Korean defense arrangement is greatly contributing to his country's security, and should be maintained now more than ever. He was speaking to the graduating class of the Korea Military Academy in Seoul, one day after North Korea test-fired a cruise missile into the Sea of Japan.

The new president's comments followed U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's proposal last week to move U.S. troops away from South Korea's heavily fortified border with North Korea, or to withdraw them from the country altogether.

As a member of South Korea's parliament in the early 1990s, Mr. Roh signed a petition demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in South Korea, but has since softened his position.

On Monday, the United States lodged a formal protest with North Korea over the recent intercept of a U.S. spy plane by North Korean fighter jets over the Sea of Japan. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington called on North Korea to adhere to international standards of behavior and avoid increasing tensions in the region.

Mr. Boucher said the protest was delivered through diplomatic channels in New York. He did not elaborate. The United States and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #1

They have been saying this every year when this kind of war game starts. According to them, America and S. Korea have tried to invade N. Korea for more than a dozen times. The only reason this lame propaganda gets any attention is because of the current nuke crisis. Otherwise, this is a totally worthless blip of noise.

[kcvl]

Congress questions policy on North Korea

By Jonathan E. Kaplan and Peter Brand
MARCH 12, 2003

Even as the pending war with Iraq consumes the attention of Congress, a number of lawmakers in both parties are starting to challenge the Bush administration’s policy toward North Korea, including its refusal to portray the situation as a crisis and to negotiate with the North Korean regime

A handful of centrist Democrats and Republicans, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and ranking member Joe Biden (D-Del.), are urging the White House to seek a diplomatic solution by talking directly with North Korea.

“ Congress has done its job,” said Biden. “But we have not had the administration’s cooperation.”

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), ranking member on the Intelligence Committee, said, “It’s hard to do oversight. If I had to respond generally, I’d say no, we haven’t.”

Lugar’s panel will examine the extent and nature of the North Korean nuclear threat today. The lead witness will be James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Last week, administration officials declined to testify before Lugar’s committee.

However, Bush, in his prime time news conference last week, refused to portray North Korea’s drive to produce nuclear weapons as a crisis. Describing it as a “regional issue,” he urged China, Russia, South Korea and Japan to help resolve it.

Referring to North Korea’s stepped-up nuclear program, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the administration “can start by calling it a crisis, which it is.”

McCain urged the administration to “go to China and tell them a nuclear Korean peninsula is not in their interest [and] go to Japan and tell them we’ll help them build nuclear weapons if necessary.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), one of several Democratic presidential aspirants, asked, “What do we lose by sending over a high level emissary? Is it any more blackmail when we send somebody when they have 12 atom bombs? It would be a horrific mistake to allow North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons.”

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), added, “There are common positions in how to initiate [high level talks] and to do it quickly. The small differences are over how to involve Pacific Rim nations.”

Meanwhile, a group of 27 House Democrats led by Rep. Alcee Hastings (Fla.) wrote the president last week asking him to clarify the administration’s policy on North Korea. The signatories included Ike Skelton (Mo.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, and Caucus Vice Chair James Clyburn (S.C.).

“ I’m not saying they don’t have a policy,” said Hastings, who has introduced three resolutions condemning the North Korean government. “I just don’t know what the hell the policy is.”

He added, “I perceive North Korea as the most volatile threat America is facing.”

Several foreign policy aides to former Presidents Bush and Clinton, including National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and Harvard professor and Pentagon official Ashton Carter, have also called for direct talks.

In contrast, House and Senate conservatives are backing the administration, arguing that talking directly with North Korea is blackmail and appeasement.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said, “We want to work together with other nations as partners in addressing this issue before the possibility of bilateral talks.”

And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday, “The president is taking the right tack … I’ll call it a crisis when the president does.”

A House aide, who requested anonymity, said most Republican lawmakers are “sympathetic with the White House’s desire not to be blackmailed or negotiate with North Korea. But the aide added, “It is very hard to see how we’re making any progress.”

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said he has no plans for more hearings after holding one in February.

“ I would want to know what good end hearings would bring about, and not do anything counterproductive,” he said.

Still, Hyde seemed to indicate direct talks were an option: “We don’t know what they are doing,” he said. “I am sure there are conversations under way at a certain level.”

Many foreign policy experts agree that Congress has not done its job in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear threat. “They have a responsibility to air questions in public and come up with suggestions,” said Stephen Costello, a Korean specialist at the Atlantic Council.

Chris Nelson, author of an influential daily newsletter focusing on Asia, the Nelson Report, said, “Congress was slow to recognize that the Bush policy of aggressive non-engagement risked producing the crisis that we now face.”

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #9

It just suffices for Bush to say, "N. Korea will have her turn in time. We have not forgotton what N. Korea has done so far."

[Robert_Paulson2]

"The US should not boast its military muscle," KCNA said. "The DPRK (North Korea) has self-defensive national defence capacity powerful enough to beat back any formidable enemy at a single stroke."

---

uh, okay.... if you say so...

---

of course to me, it sounds like aircraft carrier envy....

[JohnOG]

Robert,
Not trying to sound like a broken record but one aircraft carrier probably does NOT scare the NKs...its actually a sign of our military weakness that we can only spare one aircraft carrier in the region at the moment...
I would say there should be at least 3 in the area. The problem is there are only 12 in the entire US Navy....
Thanks, John O'Grady

[Robert_Paulson2]

Then perhaps you better get on the horn to rumsfield and bush and let them know how they have miscalculated our deployment of assets... I am sure they will be very concerned that you think there should be three instead of one...

roflmao....

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #12

N. Korea will have her Carrier welcoming party in a few months. I am sure that 6 carriers will satisfy her massive ego for a start. To satisfy N. Korea, it is necessary to have 6 carrier battle groups, 200K American troops, 500 American combat aircrafts, 10 dozen nuke missiles pointed at them, while N. Korea is threatening a national suicide. That is a kind of attention N. Korea wants.

In that sense, N. Korea is shabbily treated by America now. Only one carrier, two dozen bombers, and dismissive attitude of America would make them really upset.

[JohnOG]

I like that!!!!! Finally we are talking some serious NUMBERS and FIREPOWER!!!!
God I'd love to see that little midget BASTARD Dr. ILL get ripped from power....cut to pieces and then fed to the people he has systematically starved!!!!!
I'd love to see that even more than Saddam's downfall!!!
Here's hoping for a SIX CARRIER SURPRISE for that little BASTARD!!!!
Thanks, John O'Grady.

[JohnOG]

That's not my point Robert....
My point is there ought to be more carriers in the US NAVY than just TWELVE!!! That is my point....I'm not criticizing Bush or Rummy, I have respect for them....
They are hamstrung by the emasculation of our military by that lying, fornicating whore who ran this country for eight years...
THAT is my point.....Thanks, John O'Grady.

[rundy]

What they should really fear, they will not likely ever see. Namely

Just one of these bad boys has enough firepower (read nuke power) to render North Korea a smoking pile (or would it be a crater) of worthless genetic debris.

[JohnOG]

Hey Robert,
I'm dead serious here...what does roflmao stand for?? I know its some acronym meaning that you thought my post was ignorant or naive or silly or uninformed or the like....
But what specifically does it stand for?? I really don't know!!! :) I should but I don't....maybe I'm as ignorant and uninformed as you seem to think I am :) (just kidding)
Good to hear from you!!! Hopefully Saddam is toast soon!!!! Thanks, John.

[JohnOG]

I agree....BIG TIME!!!!
Unfortunately there are only 18 in the US Navy and by treaty with Russia we keep nine in port at all times...
Like idiots we abide by the treaty...
Think our "good buddy" Vlad Putin abides by it?? Think again....we need to build up....NOW!!!! John.

[bullseye1911]

The communist country has condemned the annual US-South Korean war games, codenamed Foal Eagle, which began last week, as a rehearsal for an American strike at its nuclear facilities.

from your lips to W's ears!