France at the UN warns North Korea over nuclear threat

By Agence France-Presse on Wednesday, November 26th, 2014

France warned North Korea on Monday that it would likely face more UN sanctions if it follows through on threats to carry out a nuclear test.

North Korea has reacted angrily to a UN resolution condemning its human rights record and calling on the Security Council to refer Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Pyongyang has said it felt no need to refrain from carrying out a nuclear test and North Korea’s top military body warned Sunday of “catastrophic consequences” for supporters of the resolution.

At a UN Security Council debate on non-proliferation, French political counselor Philippe Bertoux recalled that North Korea’s recent threats were a cause of concern.

“I would like to underscore that Pyongyang would, in the event of new provocations, expose itself to additional sanctions from the Security Council,” said Bertoux.

The Security Council imposed sweeping sanctions on North Korea in 2013 after Pyongyang conducted a third nuclear test since 2006.

Those sanctions imposed restrictions on financial transactions and shipping, and targeted the North Korean elite with a tough ban on exports of luxury goods to the reclusive country.

Last week, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said on its 38 North website that new satellite imagery suggested Pyongyang may be firing up a facility for processing weapons-grade plutonium.

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North Korea researching sea-based missiles: US think-tank

North Korea has built a test facility that may be intended to develop a marine-based ballistic missile launch capability, using submarines or surface vessels, a US think-tank said Tuesday.

While submarines carrying ballistic missiles could provide the North Korea with a survivable second-strike nuclear capability, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University stressed that Pyongyang was likely “years” from achieving the required technology.

Reviewing recent commercial satellite imagery, the institute said a new test stand had been identified at the Sinpo South Shipyard in northeastern North Korea.

The size and design of the stand suggested it was intended “to explore the possibility of launching ballistic missiles from submarines or of a shipboard vertical launch ballistic missile capability,” it said in an analysis on the closely followed 38 North website.

The analysis said it was difficult to speculate what kind of missile system the North might use on a submarine-based system, noting that existing large, liquid-fueled missiles like the medium-range Musudan and Nodong would be difficult to adapt.

A naval version of existing short-range Scud missiles or an entirely new system might present less of an engineering challenge, but whatever system is chosen, “it is likely to take years to design, develop, manufacture, and deploy”, it added.

Despite those caveats, the prospect of a second-strike capability — the ability to survive an initial nuclear attack and hit back — will only fuel concerns about the pace of North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

Last week, the commander of US forces in South Korea, General Curtis Scaparrotti, said the North had progressed to the point where it could probably miniaturize a nuclear device to be fitted on the tip of a missile.

“We have not seen it tested … (but) I don’t think as a commander we can afford the luxury of believing perhaps they haven’t gotten there,” Scaparrotti told a news conference in Washington.

A Defense Intelligence Agency report leaked last year had also concluded the North had mastered the necessary miniaturization technology, although US officials at the time said it did not represent a consensus view of all the country’s spy agencies.

The ability to fit a nuclear warhead device on a credible delivery system would be a major breakthrough for the North, which is also seen as pushing the development of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the mainland United States.

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PCU North Dakota (SSN 784), First Block III Virginia Class Submarine Delivered

By US Navy on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014

The Navy accepted delivery of PCU North Dakota (SSN 784), the 11th ship of the Virginia Class, on Aug. 29, two days prior to its contract delivery date.

North Dakota is the first of eight Virginia Class Block III ships. Approximately 20 percent of North Dakota was redesigned as part of the Virginia Cost Reduction work done to lower acquisition cost and increase operational flexibility. The changes include a ship’s bow redesign, replacing 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk Cruise Missiles.

“North Dakota delivered ahead of schedule and under budget,” said Capt. David Goggins, Virginia Class program manager. “When one considers the scope of design changes, this represents a tremendous achievement.”

Only six days ago North Dakota successfully completed Alpha, Bravo, and Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) trials, which evaluate the submarine’s seaworthiness and operational capabilities. During the trials, the crew took the submarine to test depth, conducted an emergency surfacing, and tested the submarine’s propulsion plant.

“North Dakota and her crew delivered an outstanding performance,” said Program Executive Officer for Submarines Rear Adm. David C. Johnson. “It was almost 10 years ago that the first ship of the class, USS Virginia delivered on Oct. 12, 2004. Since then, this program has delivered 10 ships, with North Dakota the latest. We continue to meet the Virginia Class standard of delivering submarines early, under cost, more complete and ready for tasking right out of the shipyard. North Dakota set a new benchmark for excellence in what is the arguably the best performing program in defense acquisition.”

The Navy postponed North Dakota’s original May commissioning date because of quality issues with vendor-assembled and delivered components that required an unplanned dry-docking to correct. Additional design certification work was also required on the submarine’s redesigned bow.

“Now that certifications are complete, and we’re armed with lessons learned,we can move forward knowing that we are providing our fleet with the most capable, and battle-ready submarine possible,” said Goggins.

North Dakota will spend the next two months preparing for its Oct. 25 commissioning in Groton, Connecticut.

Virginia-class submarines are built to dominate the world’s littoral and deep waters while conducting Anti-Submarine; Anti-Surface Ship; Strike; Special Operation Forces; Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; Irregular Warfare; and Mine Warfare missions. Their inherent stealth, endurance, firepower, and sensor suite directly enable them to support five of the six Maritime Strategy Core Capabilities – Sea Control, Power Projection, Forward Presence, Maritime Security, and Deterrence.

Team Submarine oversees the submarine force’s research, development, acquisition, maintenance and life cycle support.

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North Korea fires rockets as Pope arrives in South

North Korea fired five short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Thursday, just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul for a five-day visit.

The launches began at 9:30 am (0030 GMT) at a site near the North’s eastern port of Wonsan, with the rockets fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) at a maximum range of 220 kilometers (130 miles), a defence ministry spokesman said.

Three were fired in the morning and two in the afternoon, he said.

“They are presumed to have been fired from a 300-millimetre multiple rocket launcher,” he said, adding that the military had stepped up vigilance along the heavily fortified border.

The pope is expected to send a message of peace to Pyongyang when he conducts a special inter-Korean “reconciliation” mass in Seoul next week on the last day of his visit.

Church officials in the South had sent several requests to Pyongyang to send a group of Catholics to attend the event, but the North declined the offer, citing its anger at upcoming South Korea-US military drills.

The Catholic Church, like any other religion, is only allowed to operate in North Korea under extremely tight restrictions, and within the confines of the state-controlled Korean Catholics Association.

It has no hierarchical links with the Vatican and there are no known Catholic priests or nuns.

Thursday’s launches came hours after North Korea warned that if South Korea failed to cancel an upcoming military drill with the United States it would push the two sides “to the brink of war”.

In a statement that offered no direct response to Seoul’s recent offer of high-level talks, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles cross-border ties, issued a long list of measures the South should implement if it was “sincere” about improving relations.

The joint military drill scheduled to begin Monday “should be cancelled unconditionally”, the statement said.

The annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise is aimed at testing combat readiness for a North Korean invasion.

Although largely played out on computers, it involves tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops.

North Korea has carried out an extended series of missile tests into the East Sea in recent months, despite UN resolutions barring it from any launches using ballistic missile technology.

The North has defended the tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence and a response to the South-US war manoeuvres.

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North Korea Test-Fires More Projectiles

North Korea has fired four more short-range projectiles into the sea, the latest in a series of missile and artillery tests.

The South Korean Defense Ministry says the North fired two Wednesday morning and two more later in the day from an area northeast of Pyongyang. The type of projectile used is not yet known.

It is not clear if the weapons landed on the ground in North Korea or made it to the water off its east coast.

The recent increase in weapons tests, many of which defy a United Nations ban on missile tests by Pyongyang, has helped raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

An official with South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a telephone interview with VOA’s Korean service Wednesday that Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launches will be discussed by the U.N. Security Council next week.

Lee Ho-ryong, at the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses, says North Korean tests are part of a long-term plan by Pyongyang.

“It is part of [North Korea’s] efforts to find a strategically advantageous position in the future,” he said. “That being said, the United Nations will need to consider the option of sanctions in a serious manner.”

On Tuesday, Admiral Samuel Locklear, who heads the U.S. military’s Pacific Command, told reporters that North Korea’s weapons activities are a major cause for concern.

“The proliferation activities of North Korea, their desire for nuclear missiles and nuclear capabilities, as we’ve said over and over again, are highly threatening to the global security environment,” he said.

Locklear made the remarks two days after a senior North Korean military official threatened to launch a nuclear strike against the United States, accusing Washington of increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The U.S., South Korea and other nations have been pushing North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to increase U.S. sanctions on North Korea to prevent Pyongyang’s development and proliferation of weapons technology. The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president before becoming law.

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North Korea may be closer to full ICBM test: US think-tank

Fresh satellite images suggest North Korea might be wrapping up engine trials on an intercontinental ballistic missile, fueling speculation of a full-scale flight test to come, a US think-tank said Wednesday.

Development of a working ICBM would be a game-changing step, bringing the continental United States into range and adding a whole new threat level to the North’s regular nuclear-strike warnings.

“The rocket engine test program may wind down by the end of this year,” The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said on its closely followed 38 North website.

“If the engine tests are concluded, the next stage in development of the KN-08 road-mobile ICBM may be full-scale flight tests of the missile,” it added.

It stressed, however, that it was unclear just how successful the tests had been.

Regular satellite analysis has shown a major construction program underway at North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station since mid-2013, focused on upgrading facilities to handle larger, longer-range rockets with heavier payloads.

Although there is no doubt that North Korea has an extremely active ballistic missile development program, expert opinion is split on just how much progress it has made.

Images taken this month showed the gantry height on the main launch pad had increased to more than 50 meters, while a wider access road and rail spur capable of transporting larger rockets to the pad were either finished or nearing completion.

“These modifications could be completed by 2015,” the 38 North website said.

The images also showed evidence of new engine tests, including the presence of first stage rocket motors and distressed vegetation along the edges of the flame path.

The KN08 was first unveiled at a military parade in April 2012, but many analysts dismissed the models on show as mock-ups.

In December the same year, Pyongyang demonstrated its rocket capabilities by sending a satellite in orbit on a multi-stage launch vehicle.

But it has yet to conduct a test that would show it had mastered the re-entry technology required for an effective ICBM.

Over the past month or so, North Korea has conducted a series of short and medium range missile tests, which were largely seen as a muscle-flexing exercise in response to South Korea-US joint military drills.

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North Korea defies UN censure to fire missile into sea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un guided the military’s latest rocket-firing drill, state media said Sunday, confirming the missile launch which was conducted in defiance of UN censure.

Saturday’s launch was the first since the UN Security Council on July 17 officially condemned Pyongyang for its recent series of ballistic missile tests, in violation of UN resolutions.

The North’s state news agency KCNA described the missile launch by the army as a “rocket-firing drill” to simulate a strike on military bases in South Korea where 28,500 US troops are stationed.

“(Kim) examined a firing plan mapped out in consideration of the present location of the US imperialist aggressor forces’ bases… and under the simulated conditions of the battle to strike and destroy them before guiding the drill,” it said.

The launch was intended to mark the July 27 anniversary of the ceasefire agreement at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, KCNA said.

It did not say where the drill took place.

Seoul’s army said earlier the North had fired a short-range missile into the sea Saturday night — the latest in a recent series of launches that heightened tension on the peninsula.

The North often fires missiles and rockets as a show of force or to express anger at perceived provocations, but the frequency of the recent tests — six in the past month — is unusual.

“The North fired… a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) at 9:40 pm (12:40 GMT),” a spokesman for Seoul’s defence ministry told AFP.

– Close to border –

The missile, with an estimated range of 500 kilometers (300 miles), was fired in the northeastern direction from Jangsan Cape in the North’s western coast — only 12 miles away from the tense sea border with the South, he said.

Pyongyang’s recent missile launches were carried out at locations increasingly close to the border with the South — a move analysts say is aimed at stepping up threats against Seoul.

The flashpoint maritime border on the Yellow Sea was a scene of several bloody naval clashes and the North’s shelling of a border island in 2010 that left four South Koreans including two civilians dead.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo had lodged a “strong protest” to the North against the latest launch.

“We need to let North Korea know that development of nuclear and missiles cannot go together with economic development,” Abe told reporters during his trip to Mexico.

UN resolutions bar North Korea from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.

The UN’s latest criticism on the North met with an angry response from the North, which called it “absolutely intolerable” and defended the missile launches as a response to “madcap war manoeuvres” by the US.

The launch came as Pyongyang has been playing hawk and dove in recent weeks, mixing its tests with peace gestures that have been largely dismissed by Seoul.

The two Koreas are currently trying to sort out logistics for the North’s participation in the Asian Games, which begin in September in the South Korean city of Incheon.

“Our military sees the launch by North Korea, conducted while expressing its will to participate in the upcoming Incheon Asian Games, as part of its traditional dual strategy of engagement and pressure,” Seoul’s military spokesman said.

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North Korea fires two more missiles into sea

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea Sunday, Seoul’s military said, in an apparent show of anger at an upcoming joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States.

The North fired the two ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) at 1:20 and 1:30 am local time, the South’s defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

“Their range appeared to be around 500 kilometres (311 miles),” he said, adding Seoul’s military had stepped up monitoring for additional launches.

The move — the latest in a series of similar launches in recent weeks — came a day after Pyongyang condemned an upcoming Seoul-Washington naval joint exercise.

The annual drill, from July 16-21, involves the US aircraft carrier George Washington, which arrived in the southern port of Busan on Friday.

The North bristled Saturday at the nuclear-powered carrier visiting the port, calling it a “reckless” act of provocation.

“The US should properly understand that the more persistently it resorts to reckless nuclear blackmail and threat, the further (the North) will bolster up its cutting-edge nuclear force for self-defence,” said the North’s top military body, the National Defence Commission.

The North has habitually slammed joint military exercises south of the border and often responded with missile test-launches.

UN resolutions bar it from conducting any ballistic missile tests. Sunday’s launch — the fifth in just over two weeks — took place in a sensitive area near the heavily-fortified border with the South, the defence ministry spokesman said without elaborating.

Yonhap news agency said the missiles were launched only about 20 kilometers north of the Demilitarized Zone that has divided the peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice.

The North appears to have moved them from a military base about 50-60 kilometers away by using mobile launchers, Yonhap said, citing an unnamed Seoul army official.

– Kim wants to look ‘bold’ –

The launch area may fall within the range of South Korean artillery, said Kim Jung-Bong, a political science professor at Hanzhong University, adding the move was aimed at portraying the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un as a “bold leader with guts”.

“The North appears to be stepping up its threats by showing that it can fire missiles at any time and any place it wants,” said Kim.

The North has often fired short-range missiles or rockets into the sea to express anger at perceived provocations.

Previous tests had preceded Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Seoul, and were seen by some analysts as a show of pique at his decision to make Seoul rather than Pyongyang his first stop on the peninsula.

Japan protested to North Korea over Sunday’s launch via its embassy in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo News and Jiji Press said.

But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the launch would not affect ongoing talks to try to solve the issue of Japanese abductees in the North, according to Jiji.

In between the recent launches, Pyongyang has also made several peace overtures to Seoul, including a proposal for both sides to halt all provocative military activity.

The South dismissed the offer as “nonsensical” in the light of the North’s nuclear weapons program and reiterated that the annual joint military drills with the US are non-negotiable.

But it accepted another offer by Pyongyang to send a delegation of cheerleaders to support North Korean athletes during the September 19-October 4 Asian Games at Incheon in the South.

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North Korea fires 100 artillery shells into sea

North Korea fired 100 artillery shells into the sea Monday in a live-fire drill near the eastern maritime border with South Korea that followed a recent series of missile tests.

The drill began shortly before midday (0300 GMT) using land artillery units based at the eastern tip of the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the Korean peninsula, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

It lasted for 30 minutes and about 100 shells, some with a range of around 50 kilometers (30 miles), fell into waters north of the eastern sea boundary, a JCS spokesman said.

None of the shells crossed into South Korean waters.

South Korean border troops were already on heightened alert after a series of short-range ballistic missile tests by the North in recent weeks, including the firing of two Scud missiles into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on Sunday.

UN resolutions bar North Korea from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.

“Today’s exercise was seen as a show of force towards our side,” a South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

North Korea often conducts tests and drills as a show of displeasure, and Sunday’s missiles were fired after it denounced an upcoming South Korean-US naval exercise.

The annual drill, from July 16-21, involves the US aircraft carrier George Washington, which arrived in the southern port of Busan on Friday.

Previous tests had preceded Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Seoul. They were seen by some analysts as a show of pique at his decision to visit the South rather than the North.

In between the recent launches, Pyongyang has also made several peace overtures to Seoul, including a proposal for both sides to halt all provocative military activity.

The South dismissed the offer as “nonsensical” in the light of the North’s nuclear weapons program and reiterated that the annual joint military drills with the US are non-negotiable.

“The North is showing a two-faced attitude,” South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said in a meeting with her advisers on Monday.

Park noted that Pyongyang had kept up the missile tests even while setting up talks with the South on sending athletes to the upcoming Asian Games in the South Korean port city of Incheon.

The talks will be held Thursday at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

“We have to establish a solid defence posture that can resolutely respond to any provocations by the North,” Park’s office quoted her as saying.

There is no dispute over the eastern maritime boundary, unlike its western counterpart in the Yellow Sea, which Pyongyang refuses to recognize because it was unilaterally drawn by US-led United Nations forces after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Each side complains of frequent incursions by the other across the western border and there were naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

In November 2010 North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong island, killing four South Koreans and briefly triggering concerns of a full-scale conflict.

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North Korea fires two more missiles into the sea

North Korea on Wednesday fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles into the sea in the latest in a series of launches interspersed with spurned peace overtures to South Korea.

A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said the two missiles were fired from the western province of Hwanghae into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

“We suspect they were short-range ballistic missiles,” spokesman Um Hoy-Sik told AFP, adding that the range was around 500 kilometers (310 miles).

UN resolutions bar the North from conducting any ballistic missile tests, and Japan was swift to condemn the launches.

“We have lodged a strong protest against North Korea,” the Japanese government’s top spokesman told a regular press briefing in Tokyo.

The protest was made through diplomatic channels in Beijing.

“These latest missile launches violate past UN Security Council resolutions that ban any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga added.

It was the fourth missile test in less than two weeks.

The previous launches had preceded a state trip to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping and had been read by some analysts as a show of pique at his decision to visit Seoul before Pyongyang.

China is North Korea’s sole major ally, but while Xi has met four times with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye — including two summits — he has yet to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

– ‘Nonsensical’ –

As Xi arrived in Seoul on July 3, Pyongyang announced its intention to continue the tests, despite protests from Seoul and Tokyo.

One of the previous launches was hailed by the North’s state media as that of a new “cutting-edge” guided missile marking a “breakthrough” in the country’s military capabilities.

North Korea is not known to have a tactical guided missile capability, but analysis of a recent propaganda film suggested it may have acquired a variant of a Russian cruise missile, the KH-35.

Statements from Pyongyang have suggested several reasons for the tests, including anger over recent South Korean naval drills near the maritime border.

In between the launches, the North has extended a number of apparent olive branches to the South, including a proposal for both sides to halt all provocative military activity.

Seoul dismissed the offers as “nonsensical” in the light of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

Wednesday’s test came as North Korea announced the death from a heart attack of Jon Pyong-Ho, a retired general seen as a chief architect of its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

According to the NK Leadership Watch website, Jon supervised the development of medium-range ballistic missiles in the 1990s, and offered the designs to Pakistan in exchange for detailed information on gas centrifuge technology and uranium enrichment.

US intelligence said Jon was a key figure in the North’s international weapons trade that involved shipping components for missiles, nuclear reactors and conventional arms to countries including Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

Over the years, he was individually named in sanctions imposed on North Korea by the United Nations, United States and European Union.

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