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Seoul, South Korea

Both China and North Korea appear eager to put on a show of business as usual amid US diplomatic and military moves to bring together America’s two regional allies, South Korea and Japan.

While China and North Korea solidified their relationship in a quick visit Thursday to Pyongyang by Dai Bingguo, China’s highest-ranking foreign affairs official, the US shored up its trilateral relationship with South Korea and Japan. To the disappointment of South Koreans as well as Americans, analysts saw no sign of significant Chinese pressure on North Korea to pull back from confrontation with the South.

IN PICTURES – Cult of Personality: Inside North Korea

The cordial tone of official Chinese and North Korean dispatches contradicted what many see as the wishful thinking of South Korea’s national security adviser, Chun Yung-woo.

Mr. Chun was quoted in a US document released by WikiLeaks as telling the US ambassador to South Korea, Kathleen Stephens, in February 2010 that China “would be comfortable with a reunified Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the US in a ‘benign alliance’ as long as Korea was not hostile toward China.”

WikiLeaks also released a separate US cable quoting a Chinese vice foreign minister, He Yafei, as saying in 2009 that North Korea’s behavior in conducting missile tests that April was that of “a spoiled child.”

Two high-level trips by Americans next week are expected to elicit some understanding of the depth of real attitudes in Beijing and Pyongyang. James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, travels to Beijing to impress upon the Chinese the need to hold North Korea in check if the Chinese really want “stability,” as they often say.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is planning to visit North Korea next week. Mr. Richardson, who has visited several times over the years, has been a strong advocate of “engagement” with North Korea and is expected to try to lay the groundwork for renewed dialogue between North Korea and the US.

By csmonitor.com

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (r.) shakes hands with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo (l.) in Pyongyang, North Korea, Dec. 9, amid the continuing military crisis on the Korean peninsula. Gao Haorong/Xinhua/AP

North Korea is being probed for possible war crimes committed by its military, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced Monday.

“The office of the prosecutor has received communications alleging that North Korean forces committed war crimes in the territory of the Republic of Korea,” it said in a statement on the court’s website.

“The prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, confirmed that the office has opened a preliminary examination to evaluate if some incidents constitute war crimes under the jurisdiction of the court.”

Prosecutors said the preliminary examination would look into the rogue state’s conduct with respect to two deadly attacks on South Korean territory and interests this year.

The most recent attack was the Nov. 23 shelling by North Korea’s forces of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island that resulted in several deaths and many injuries.

ICC prosecutors also cited the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship by a torpedo allegedly fired from a North Korean submarine. That attack killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The prosecutor’s office said the preliminary examination would determine if the criteria have been met for opening an investigation.

Top U.S. soldier to visit South Korea

In Seoul, South Korean military and defence officials are preparing for a visit later this week by the top U.S. military officer.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is to meet Wednesday with senior South Korean defence officials to let them know that the U.S. continues to stand by them.

It’s the latest indication that Washington is increasingly concerned by the tense situation in the Korean pensinsula.

The White House said President Barack Obama called Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday night to discuss North Korea and urge China to use its influence to rein in its provacative ally.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also met in Washington on Monday with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korean situation.

She said they shared concerns about what she called “provocative attacks from North Korea.”

By cbc.ca

Smoke raises from South Korea's Yeonpyeong island on Nov. 23. The International Criminal Court announced Monday it will investigate North Korea for possible war crimes for its role in the shelling and for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. (Yonhap/Associated Press)

The United States on Monday called for tighter enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea and for China to play a “responsible” role in easing mounting tensions in the region.

The United States will “confront the threat” posed by North Korea’s new nuclear activities and its deadly attack on its southern neighbour last week, said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

A UN Security Council sanctions committee meanwhile met to discuss efforts to implement actions already ordered against the North after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Signalling a tougher US line with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s regime, Ms Rice said the United States expects committee members “to intensify their important ongoing efforts to tighten sanctions enforcement.”

The sanctions include an arms embargo and actions – including an assets freeze and travel ban – taken against entities and individuals linked to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Ms Rice called last week’s attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island “outrageous” and said the United States would “work with the international community to maintain peace and security in this region as we simultaneously confront the threat posed by North Korea’s ongoing nuclear activities.”

The ambassador said the United States looks “to China to play a responsible leadership role in working to maintain peace and security in that region.”

China is North Korea’s closest international ally and its main trade partner.

“It is in China’s interests, it is in the interests of the countries in the region, and we expect them to take steps that are consistent with their obligations and all of our obligations under UN Security Council resolutions,” Ms Rice told reporters.

The United States has not yet stated its position on China’s call for six- nation talks on North Korea to take place in Beijing in the coming days.

South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan had previously been in talks with North Korea seeking to end its nuclear weapons program until the North pulled out of the negotiations in April 2009.

By telegraph.co.uk

Super Hornet fighter attack aircraft is launched off the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier, USS George Washington during the joint military exercise off South Korea's West Sea Photo: AP

The United States and South Korea began joint war games Sunday as South Koreans demanded vengeance over a deadly North Korean artillery bombardment that has raised fears of more clashes between the bitter rivals.

Meanwhile, the North worked to justify one of the worst attacks on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War. Four South Koreans, including two civilians, died Tuesday when the North rained artillery on the small Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which is home to both fishing communities and military bases.

North Korea said civilians were used as a “human shield” around artillery positions and lashed out at what it called a “propaganda campaign” against it.

The North said that Sunday’s planned U.S.-South Korean war games showed that the U.S. was “the arch criminal who deliberately planned the incident and wire-pulled it behind the scene.”

The war games, which involve the USS George Washington supercarrier, display resolve by Washington and Seoul to respond strongly to any future North Korean aggression. However, Washington has insisted the drills are routine and were planned well before last Tuesday’s attack.

The drills kicked off Sunday morning when ships from both countries entered the exercise zone, an official with South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

David Oten, a spokesman for the U.S. military in South Korea, said U.S. ships were still steaming toward the area and the drills would not officially begin until later in the day.

North Korea on Saturday warned of retaliatory attacks creating a “sea of fire” if its territory is violated.

The South Korean president told top officials “there is a possibility North Korea may take provocative actions during the [joint] exercise,” and urged them to co-ordinate with U.S. forces to counter any such move, according to a spokesman in the president’s office.

By cbc.ca

South Korean ships are shown off the coast of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on Sunday as the two countries prepared to begin war games. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)

INCHON, South Korea — As they left behind gutted homes, scorched trees, and rubble-strewn streets, residents of the tiny South Korean island shelled by North Korea told harrowing tales yesterday of fiery destruction and narrow escapes.

Ann Ahe-ja, one of hundreds of exhausted evacuees from Yeonpyeong Island arriving in the port of Inchon on a rescue ship, said Tuesday’s artillery barrage that killed four people — two of them civilians — had caught her by surprise.

“Over my head, a pine tree was broken and burning,’’ Ann told AP Television News. “So I thought, ‘Oh, this is not another exercise. It is a war.’ I decided to run. And I did.’’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the shelling of the island near the two nations’ disputed maritime border one of the “gravest incidents’’ since the Korean War.

South Korean troops remained on high alert. In Washington, President Obama pledged to “stand shoulder to shoulder’’ with Seoul and called upon China to restrain its ally, North Korea.

The United States has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to guard against North Korean aggression. The troops are a legacy of the bitter three-year conflict that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

Seoul and Washington reaffirmed plans to hold joint military exercises this week in the Yellow Sea, just 70 miles south of Yeonpyeong. The White House said the aircraft carrier USS George Washington would take part.

The Obama administration urged China to press North Korea to halt provocative action, saying Beijing has a duty to tell Pyongyang that deliberate acts “specifically intended to inflame tensions in the region’’ are not acceptable.

China said late yesterday that it was highly concerned about the artillery exchange and urged restraint.

China “feels pain and regret about an incident causing deaths and property losses and is worried about the developments,’’ Hong Lei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a statement.

Diplomats for countries on the UN Security Council said there had been no request for the 15-member council to hold a full, formal meeting about the shelling, but said some informal bilateral talks were being held.

About 10 homes suffered direct hits and 30 were destroyed in the midafternoon barrage, according to a local official who spoke by telephone from the island just seven miles from the North Korean shore. About 1,700 civilians live on Yeonpyeong alongside South Korean troops stationed there.

“I heard the sound of artillery, and I felt that something was flying over my head,’’ said Lim Jung-eun, 36, who fled the island with three children, including a 9-month-old strapped to her back. “Then the mountain caught on fire.’’

Many evacuees had spent the night in underground shelters and embraced tearful family members on arrival in Inchon.

The shower of artillery from North Korea was the first to strike a civilian population. In addition to the two marines killed, the bodies of two men, believed in their 60s, were pulled from a destroyed construction site, the coast guard said. At least 18 people — most of them troops — were injured.

The skirmish began after North Korea warned the South to stop carrying out military drills near their sea border, South Korean officials said.

When Seoul refused and fired artillery into disputed waters — away from the North Korean shore — the North retaliated by shelling Yeonpyeong.

Seoul responded by unleashing its own barrage of howitzers and scrambling its fighter jets.

North Korea, laying out its version of events, said the army warned the South several times that firing “a single shell’’ in its waters would draw a “prompt retaliatory strike.’’

In Pyongyang, residents boasted that the exchange showed off their military’s strength and ability to counter South Korean aggression.

By boston.com

Survivors of the artillery exchange arrived yesterday at the port in Inchon, South Korea, from Yeonpyeong Island. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

U.S. President Barack Obama met Tuesday with his top advisers about the situation on the Korean peninsula, in the wake of North Korea’s artillery attack on a South Korean island. Obama is expected to telephone South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to reiterate U.S. support for South Korea.

Immediately upon his return to the White House from a brief trip to the Midwestern state of Indiana, the president went into a meeting  of his national security team.

According to a White House statement, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, and Secretaries of State and Defense Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates were among those taking part.

Also participating in person or via video link were the chairman of the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen and the commander of U.S. forces in Korea, General Walter Sharp as well as Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

The White House statement says Obama reiterated the unshakeable support of the United States for the Republic of Korea, and that he discussed ways to advance peace and security on the Korean peninsula.

Briefing reporters earlier in the day, Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton described Mr. Obama has being “outraged” by North Korean actions on Tuesday, adding that the United States “stands shoulder to shoulder” with South Korea and that it is fully committed to South Korea’s defense.

It is unknown what contacts President Obama has made or plans to make with other world leaders. Asked whether the president would call China’s President Hu Jintao, White House Burton said only that Obama would do what is appropriate.

U.S. envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth was in Beijing, consulting South Korean, Japanese and Chinese officials, and is expected to meet with the president. The key focus of Bosworth’s talks in the region was Pyongyang’s recent revelation of an apparent uranium enrichment plant.

Bosworth called the North Korean artillery attack that killed two South Korean marines and wounded 18 people, three of them civilians, “aggression.”

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday called the attack an “unprovoked military assault,” and said the Obama administration is planning a “measured and unified” response, working with China and other nations in the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program.

By voanews.com

A member of Japan’s Coast Guard admitted on Wednesday putting a video of a collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats on the Internet , a development that could hurt efforts to mend bilateral ties.

Relations between Asia’s biggest economies have chilled since September, when Japan detained the Chinese skipper of the fishing boat after it crashed into Coast Guard ships near disputed isles in the East China Sea.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshito Sengoku, said the leak by a government employee, if true, would be a grave matter, while Prime Minister Naoto Kan conceded he shares responsibility for the incident.

“No matter who did this, it is regrettable that information that was not supposed to become public has been disclosed,” Kan told a parliament panel.

“Various government branches have been involved in this. But as the person in charge of the cabinet, I would naturally be responsible as well.”

Media reports said the coastguard, who leaked the 44-minute video onto the YouTube website, was aged 43. No details were given about his job.

Beijing last week expressed concern to Japan about the video, which appears to show the Chinese boat being steered into the patrol vessels and could harden Japanese public opinion against China.

Asked what Japan would do if China demands an apology for the video leak, Sengoku brushed aside such a possibility.

“Why would China ask for apology? That’s totally unthinkable,” he told a news conference.

The leak added to headaches for Kan’s government, which has seen its support tumbling due in part to voter dissatisfaction with its handling of the territorial dispute, by casting doubt on its ability to keep control of confidential information.

Kan has ordered checks on the handling of such data, Sengoku said.

Japanese media earlier cited investigators as saying the video, which has been widely shown on television, had been posted onto YouTube from an Internet cafe in the western city of Kobe.

Police are planning to arrest the coastguard on suspicion of breaching the duty of confidentiality, media said.

The Chinese skipper was detained over the incident but later released, a move for which Kan has been harshly criticized.

No bilateral meeting between the heads of the two governments has so far been scheduled during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting this weekend in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Kan told the parliamentary committee.

But Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Japan is making effort through diplomatic channels to set up a meeting between Kan and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

By reuters.com

A part of the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku isles in Japan, Diaoyu in China, is seen in the East China Sea in this aerial view photo taken in October, 2010. A member of Japan's Coast Guard admitted on Wednesday putting a video of a collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats on the Internet , a development that could hurt efforts to mend bilateral ties. Relations between Asia's biggest economies have chilled since September, when Japan detained the Chinese skipper of the fishing boat after it crashed into Coast Guard ships near disputed isles in the East China Sea. Credit: Reuters/Kyodo

The United States plans to sell up to $60 billion worth of military aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday in a move designed to shore up a region overshadowed by Iran.

Andrew Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told a news conference the U.S. administration did not anticipate any objections to the sale from Israel, traditionally wary of arms sales to nearby Arab countries.

“We think it will enhance regional security and stability rather than diminish it,” Shapiro told a news conference.

The sale, which had been expected, includes 84 new Boeing F-15 aircraft and 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s. It also includes 70 of Boeing’s Apache attack helicopters and 36 of its AH-6M Little Birds.

In addition, the deal will include 72 Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp..

Shapiro said the total value of the package would not exceed $60 billion, although he emphasized that Saudi Arabia may choose not to exercise all of its purchase options during the program, which will last from 15 to 20 years.

Alexander Vershbow, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said the United States had discussed the matter with Israel, and concluded that it would not undercut Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region.

“We have consulted with Israel as this sale has taken shape … based on what we’ve heard at high levels, Israel does not object to this sale,” he said.

‘DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD’

Vershbow and Shapiro both stressed that bolstering Saudi Arabia’s own defense capabilities would improve U.S. security in a vital part of the world where fears are growing over Iran’s nuclear program.

“This is not solely about Iran,” Shapiro said. “It’s about helping the Saudis with their legitimate security needs … they live in a dangerous neighborhood and we are helping them preserve and protect their security.”

Vershbow said the sale would improve Saudi Arabia’s ability to coordinate with the United States on shared security challenges “so it means we may have to station fewer forces on a continuing basis in the region.”

U.S. and international concern about Iran’s growing military capability includes advances in a nuclear program the West believes is aimed at developing atomic weapons — accusations Tehran denies.

The United States has also flagged concern about Iran’s growing missile capabilities and has been quietly helping Arab states boost their missile defenses.

That includes the expected sale of the THAAD missile defense system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp to the United Arab Emirates. Similar talks are underway with Saudi Arabia.

U.S. officials are also discussing a possible deal to upgrade Saudi Arabia’s navy, which one official estimated could be worth an additional $30 billion.

By reuters.com

A Saudi air force jet flies in formation during a graduation ceremony for air force officers at King Faisal military college in Riyadh December 27, 2009.

Suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft launched two missiles at a vehicle in the Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border on Friday, killing three people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack was in the village of Machi Khel, near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, two officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk with the press.

The officials said the three killed have not yet been identified, but the village is known to house a mix of militants from the Afghan Taliban and local Pakistani insurgent groups.

The U.S. has sharply escalated its use of unmanned drone missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan’s border region in the last two months.

The U.S. rarely acknowledges the covert missile programme, but officials have said privately the attacks have killed several senior Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders. Pakistan officially opposes the program but is believed to secretly support it.

The U.S. carried out 21 such strikes in September, nearly double the previous monthly record, and has already launched 16 this month including those on Friday, according to an Associated Press count.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, gunmen ambushed a truck early Friday that was returning home after delivering NATO supplies in Afghanistan, killing two people.

Local official Iqbal Khan said the truck was attacked near Jamrud in the Khyber tribal region. The driver and his assistant were killed, and the unidentified gunmen then torched the truck.

The attack was the most recent in a rash of assaults on the Pakistan supply line used to carry non-lethal goods including fuel, military vehicles, spare parts and clothing to foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan.

Nearly 150 trucks were destroyed as they sat idle during the 11 days Pakistan closed a key border crossing in protest of a NATO helicopter strike that killed two Pakistani border guards. Pakistan reopened the route Sunday.

The U.S. and NATO at one point sent about 80 per cent of their non-lethal supplies through Pakistan into Afghanistan, but have been steadily reducing that amount. Now about 40 per cent of supplies now come through Pakistan, 40 per cent through the Central Asian routes, and 20 per cent by air.

By thehindu.com

Pakistani police officers escort arrested alleged militants to a jail in Bahawalpur, Pakistan on Thursday. Suspected U.S. unmanned air strikes killed three people, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Friday.

President Obama called on fellow world leaders Thursday to back up his efforts to help forge peace in the Middle East, and he challenged Iran to meet its international obligations to negotiate the terms of its nuclear program.

“The door remains open to diplomacy should Iran decide to walk through it,” Obama told leaders in his second annual address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. “But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear program.”

So far, efforts to engage Iran have failed, leading to the toughest set of sanctions ever against the country. “Iran must be held accountable,” Obama said.

In his own speech before the assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to the podium to propagandize about capitalism and the 9/11 attacks. A host of diplomats walked out of the room when he said the United States either orchestrated the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 in order to boost the economy or at least supported the attacks as a way to strengthen Israel.

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Israel’s seats in the chamber already were empty. The diplomats were absent all day, observing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Outside the U.N. complex, Iranian-American protesters carried signs denouncing Ahmadinejad, the adultery stonings imposed in Iran and the exile of those who support democracy.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican who was in office on 9/11, told the crowd that “your goals are our goals. They are the goals of all democratic people. You want to see freedom of religion … of the press.”

None of the Iranian-American protesters would give their names, expressing concern that their relatives in Iran would be sought out and punished.

“It’s a shameful day for New York, a shameful day for the USA,” said retired Swedish teacher Osborn Hommstramd, who carried two signs, one reading “Iran hangs children” and the other, “Iran stones their women.”

Obama will take his message directly to the Iranian people in an interview today with BBC Persia, the White House announced after his U.N. speech.

Obama will “build on the same message that he’s delivered repeatedly over the last 20 months, including today, which is that we seek a better relationship with the people of Iran,” national security aide Ben Rhodes said.

In addition to pressuring Iran’s leaders, Obama called on Israel to tamp down tensions in the Middle East by extending its moratorium on building new Jewish settlements in the West Bank and to embrace the notion of a Palestinian state. He also called on Arabs to “stop trying to tear Israel down” and reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel.

“It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States,” Obama said.

Referring to the willingness of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, to join a fresh round of peace negotiations with Israel, Obama said, “Make no mistake: The courage of a man like President Abbas — who stands up for his people in front of the world — is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children.”

By usatoday.com

"The door remains open to diplomacy should Iran decide to walk through it," said President Obama during his U.N. address Thursday.