Net tightens on North Korea

AUSTRALIA'S navy and air force could be involved in intercepting North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction within months, as part of a new US-led global crackdown.

In a move that is almost sure to inflame a nuclear stand-off with North Korea, 11 nations meeting in Brisbane yesterday endorsed a proposal to start "joint military exercises" from September on the interception of ships, aircraft and even land shipments, as part of the crackdown.

The US says it has international legal backing to intercept and seize cargoes on the high seas. But other nations acting under the auspices of the Proliferation Security Initiative appear to be ready only to conduct the exercises under existing law, which would largely confine them to territorial waters, until further legal issues are thrashed out.

Yesterday's decision means the US, Japan, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal Spain, Italy, Holland, Britain and Australia will be able to conduct joint exercises on the interception of ships, and shipments by air and land.

It is believed Japan and South Korea continue to have reservations about the approach. China, whose involvement would be crucial to halting North Korea's trafficking, has so far maintained a watching brief on the PSI.

The decision also comes after South Korea's top spy agency said North Korea had conducted 70 high-explosive tests, suggesting it had taken another step in developing nuclear weapons.

Member nations also agreed to greater intelligence sharing to identify and seize illegal shipments, and backed penalties for rogue state front-companies and illicit arms dealers involved in the trade.

"Although interdiction efforts have been under way for some time, there is a need to further develop and enhance capabilities of the PSI nations to conduct actual air, ground and maritime operations," a joint communique issued yesterday stated.

US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said that while he believed there were sufficient powers for nations under international law to intercept ships on the high seas, and that the US was prepared to do it "right now", the 11 nations had agreed to use existing law and international frameworks.

"I think this is another important indication of just how serious the PSI is," he said.

"And I think it's a message both to the states that supply the elements of proliferation and also to potential customers of those states that we are moving very quickly and very seriously to make this an operational exercise."

Australian Foreign Affairs Department deputy secretary Paul O'Sullivan, who chaired the meeting, said responsible nations had no choice but to take on all proliferators, including North Korea, to stop weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

"The position of the (11) governments, and certainly the Australian Government, is that North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions completely, verifiably and irreversibly," he said.

Mr O'Sullivan said naval exercises could begin as early as September and be conducted in the Pacific, in the Mediterranean and off Europe.

But John Howard yesterday downplayed the significance of the joint training exercises, saying he hoped diplomatic efforts would convince "North Korea to walk away from her non-compliance with international obligations".

"It's too early at this stage to start speculating about a military involvement by Australia, it really is," the Prime Minister said.

PM says we'll go to war if we must
By John Kerin
July 12, 2003
AUSTRALIA was prepared to go to war against North Korea if diplomatic efforts and a weapons control crackdown failed to curb its nuclear ambitions and trade in missiles, John Howard warned yesterday.

The Prime Minister's comments will up the ante in a tense nuclear stand-off with the rogue state. They came a day after Australia signed up to an aggressive US-led strategy that could see the navy within months intercepting North Korean ships suspected of trafficking.

Responding to North Korea's latest threat to launch a nuclear war if threatened by the US and its allies militarily, Mr Howard said Australia and its allies would go to war with North Korea only as a last resort.

"The question of how we deal with North Korea is a very difficult question ... we would like (the nuclear crisis) solved diplomatically ... but we can't walk away from the issue.

"Nobody wants to go to war with anybody about anything ... it's always very much a last resort thing and one to be avoided," Mr Howard told Sydney radio.

Mr Howard's comments followed 11 countries, including Australia, agreeing to intercept North Korean ships and aircraft suspected of trafficking in weapons of mass destruction as part of a global crackdown on the trade.

The 11 members of the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative have agreed to start military training exercises from as early as September.

Mr Howard said while the interception plan was designed to convince all rogue states to give up their weapons of mass destruction, it would also bring pressure to bear on North Korea to give up its nuclear program. "It would be wrong to see (an interception force) as a ploy to send a warning shot to the North Koreans.

"(But) if they (diplomatic and arms control measures) help to build up the pressure on the North Koreans to behave in a more reasonable fashion, then that's a good idea," Mr Howard said.

US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton, who is driving the interception plan, has indicated it could be broadened to include more than the current 11 countries.

Mr Bolton said among the countries he would like to see sign up were countries that allowed so-called flag-of-convenience ships. Flags of convenience allow ships to operate outside shipping regulations.

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said any legal backing for interception of ships on the high seas should be sought via the UN.

Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett said the strategy would fail without South Korea and China, adding Australia was simply bowing to the US again.

Defector to Bush officials: Strike N. Korea before it's too late

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Saturday, July 12, 2003
WASHINGTON — A North Korean defector now living in Japan came to Washington this week with an urgent message.

In a meeting with White House officials, he called for a pre-emptive strike on "selected targets" in North Korea before the Kim Jong-il regime succeeds in arming its missiles with miniaturized nuclear warheads.

"As we have witnessed in recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only effective measure against terrorists is a pre-emptive strike," said Park Gap Dong. Park met early this week with officials of the President's National Security Council and spoke at a luncheon meeting of the American Foreign Policy Council on July 9.

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Park meets frequently with senior military officials in Japan and South Korea and said the North Korean nuclear threat is credible. He said the North Korean missile test in the late 1990s had produced a "sea change" in Japan, prompting a series of measures to strengthen its defense posture which has been greatly limited by its post-World War II "peace constitution."
In 1998, North Korea fired the Taepo Dong-1 missile over Japan. The missile was later marketed to such Middle East clients as Iran and Libya.

The United States is however the only power that can end the Kim Il-Sung dynasty's nuclear blackmail tactics and the enslavement of the North Korean people, Park argued.

"Many North Koreans believe that the United States is their savior and the only nation that can liberate North Korea," he said. The flood of hate-America propaganda from North Korea represents only the relatively small number of people around Kim Jong-Il, he said.

"We cannot expect to bring down the regime of Kim Jong-il by internal means," Park said. "A pre-emptive U.S. strike against selected targets inside North Korea will succeed," he said.

"U.S. strikes against North Korean targets would force Kim Jong-il to seek asylum in China. Kim is a coward. If attacked, he will flee. The North Korean army would not fight after the regime collapsed," he said.

Park heads the National Salvation Front, a group of high-ranking North Korean exiles that includes five former generals of the North Korean army, the former vice minister of home affairs, the former vice minister of culture and the former superintendent of the North Korea Military Academy.

Park warned that North Korea would use its nuclear weapons against Japan, South Korea and even the United States if given the time to develop them.

A senior defense researcher with Japanese Defense Agency's National Institute for Defense Studies said North Korea has likely developed small nuclear warheads for its missile forces. Hideshi Takesada wrote in the Sankei Shimbun last week that "North Korea possesses small nuclear warheads."

North Korea will continue to develop and export nuclear weapons technology no matter what the U.S. does and despite whatever schedules of inspections are established, Park said.

"Kim Jong-il made the decision that the development of nuclear weapons would be the only guarantee of the safety and security for the North Korean regime. They will not give up these weapons but will instead hide them from inspectors," said Park.

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that China and North Korea have cooperated to produce and deliver components for missile and WMD programs to a number of Middle East clients, Geostrategy-Direct.com reported in its current editions. The intelligence finding led to the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on Chinese companies cooperating with North Korea in the fields of missile and WMD. After a lengthy debate within the National Security Council and State Department, the Bush administration approved the new sanctions to demonstrate a tougher policy toward Beijing, the officials said.

The five Chinese companies sanctioned were identified as Taian Foreign Trade General Corporation of China, the Zibo Chemical Equipment Plant of China, the Liyang Yunlong Chemical Equipment Group Company of China, China North Industries Corporation, known as Norinco, and the China Precision Machinery Import/Export Corporation.

The North Korean firm was identified as the Changgwang Sinyong Corporation. Changgwang, sanctioned in 2001, is said to have a significant presence in such Middle East states as Egypt, Libya, Iran and Syria.

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