UrduMaza.com Blog » North Korea

Pakistan official claims N. Korea attempted to bribe him over nuke programme in 1995

ahmed — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:10:09 +0000

Former Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General (r) Ziauddin Khawaja has disclosed for the first time that North Korea had tried to bribe him by providing him five million dol

Continue reading here:
Pakistan official claims N. Korea attempted to bribe him over nuke programme in 1995

Pak ranks 3rd in negative influence: survey

UrduMaza.com — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:41:00 +0000

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks third in negative influence in the world, according to a survey conducted by a British media outlet. According to the survey, Iran is the country seen as having the most negative influence in the world, according to an annual survey of the broadcaster. The Islamic Republic was followed by North Korea and Pakistan in the survey of negative and positive views of people in 27 countries based on events in 2010. Germany was the most positively viewed nation, but Brazil was the big winner as its status as an emerging power was confirmed with a positive rating which rose from 40 percent to 49 percent, leaving it ranked seventh in the positive stakes. In the year when it hosted the football World Cup, the proportion who rated South Africa positively rose to 42 percent from 35 percent last time. Israel was ranked as the fourth most unpopular country. The pollsters said that while views of Israel overall have not changed substantially over the past year, there had been “significant increases” in negative views of the country among Americans and Britons. A total of 28,619 people were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone in December last year and on February 4 this year, meaning the survey was done before the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Follow this link:
Pak ranks 3rd in negative influence: survey

Skepticism abounds as rival Koreas meet for talks

zuhaib ahmed — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:51:00 +0000

SEOUL: Military officers from the rival Koreas met at their heavily armed border on Tuesday for their first talks since North Korea attacked a southern island in November, with analysts skeptical about the North’’s motives. The talks clear one of the roadblocks to a possible resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending North Korea’’s nuclear-weapons program, last held more than two years ago when the North walked out, announcing the process dead. North Korean Colonel Ri Son-kwon patted his counterpart from the South, Col. Moon Sang-gyun, on the shoulder and they shook hands before they started negotiations at the Panmunjom truce village, video footage showed. They have met several times over the years. “When they (North Korea) need something, which usually means money, they first drive tensions high, then switch to the charm offensive and start talks in order to get something,” said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul. “If they do not get what they need, they turn the switch back to the confrontational mood.” The meeting is the first between the rivals since November, when the North bombarded the island of Yeonpyeong in disputed waters off the west coast killing four people. South Korea also accused the North of torpedoing one of its navy ships, killing 46 sailors, in March. Pyongyang denied involvement and says the South provoked the shelling of Yeonpyeong by firing artillery rounds into its water during a military drill. The defense ministry in Seoul gave no further details about Tuesday’’s meeting. Seoul and Washington want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the program because it contravenes past resolutions, whereas Beijing favors dealing with the matter in the six-party talks which also involve Japan and Russia. Tuesday’’s colonel-level talks are aimed at setting the time and agenda for higher-level dialogue, possibly between their defense ministers. Officials say it may take several rounds of working-level talks to prepare for the senior meeting.

Read the rest here:
Skepticism abounds as rival Koreas meet for talks

Gates argues for keeping US forces in Japan

hasan — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:01:00 +0000

TOKYO: Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said US forces needed to remain in Japan to deter the volatile North Korean regime and counter China’’s assertive stance in the region. Making the case for a continued American military presence in Japan, Gates said in a speech at Keio University in Tokyo that US forces were crucial to meeting new security threats and challenges in the region. “Without such a presence, North Korea?s military provocations could be even more outrageous, or worse, China might behave more assertively towards its neighbours,” said Gates, according to a prepared text of the speech. “Without the forward presence of US forces in Japan, there would be less information sharing and coordination, and we would know less about regional threats and the military capabilities of our potential adversaries,” he said. Gates, on a week-long Asia tour, cited a new strategy by Tokyo that stresses the importance of the country’’s southwestern islands, which he said underlined the importance of a “forward presence of US military forces in Japan”. He also said without US forces in the country it would take longer to evacuate civilians affected by war or natural disasters and crucial joint military exercises would be more costly and complicated to carry out. The presence of almost 50,000 US troops in Japan, dating back to World War II, has been a source of friction over the years, with strong opposition in Okinawa over plans to relocate an air base on the southern island. However, tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and China’’s rising military power have renewed interest in the US-Japan alliance, with officials in Tokyo calling for bolstering defence ties with Washington. Japan’’s relations with China plunged to the lowest point in years over a territorial dispute involving islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, last year. The row erupted in September after a Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships near the uninhabited islets. Gates, who paid a visit to Beijing this week to shore up defence ties, renewed his warnings about China’’s latest weaponry, which he said presented a possible threat to the US military’’s long-running presence in the Pacific. He said that “advances by the Chinese military in cyber and anti-satellite warfare pose a potential challenge to the ability of our forces to operate and communicate in this part of the Pacific”. But he said Washington and Tokyo were well-placed to counter the threat with high-tech hardware and that it was not a foregone conclusion that China would turn into a military rival. “I disagree with those who portray China as an inevitable strategic adversary of the United States,” he said. “We welcome a China that plays a constructive role on the world stage,” said Gates, referring to his visit this week aimed at improving defence ties with Beijing. Gates tried to reassure Japan over the difficult issue of US forces on Okinawa, saying plans to relocate a US base would mean Americans would have a lower profile on the island. In talks in Tokyo on Thursday, Gates and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimi Kitazawa, struck a positive tone on the issue with the Pentagon chief saying the United States hoped to move forward while “reducing the impact on the communities nearby”. The allies reached an accord in May to move the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from an urban to a coastal area of Okinawa, but the Japanese government still faces strong opposition to the plan from islanders, many of whom want the noisy air base off the island altogether. Japan’’s pacifist constitution bars it from deploying troops in combat missions abroad, and US officials have long argued that the country ultimately benefits from the American military presence, with US forces guaranteeing the country’’s security at a relatively low cost.

See the original post here:
Gates argues for keeping US forces in Japan

More than 2,100 dead, missing in China floods

aamirbk2 — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:08:00 +0000

BEIJING: The number of people killed or missing in devastating floods across China this year has risen to more than 2,100, according to the government, as weather authorities warn of yet more rain. The nation’’s civil affairs ministry said late Friday 1,454 people had died in floods this year, another 669 were still missing and more than 12 million had been evacuated from their homes. Large swathes of China have been hit by summer deluges that have triggered the worst floods in a decade, caused countless deadly landslides and swollen many large rivers to dangerous levels. According to the ministry, 1.4 million homes have been destroyed by the floods that have also caused 275 billion yuan (41 billion dollars) in direct economic losses. These official figures cover the entire year so far, and it is therefore unclear how many people have died or gone missing in the more recent, summer floods. China’’s northeast is currently the worst-hit area, with entire towns flooded and rivers bordering North Korea swollen to critical levels, prompting fears of inundations in both countries. China’’s national meteorological centre said Saturday that large swathes of the nation would see rain in the next 24 hours, although it added the rainfall would be light in most areas. But it warned that the northeast would once again be hit by torrential downpours from Sunday.

Link:
More than 2,100 dead, missing in China floods

S.Korea, US stage anti-submarine drill

Adnan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:57:00 +0000

WASHINGTON: US and South Korean warships staged anti-submarine drills Monday as part of a major naval exercise intended to send a warning to North Korea despite its threats of nuclear retaliation. The two allies, who accuse the North of sending a submarine to torpedo a South Korean warship, have assembled about 20 ships including the 97,000-ton carrier USS George Washington, 200 aircraft and 8,000 personnel. Four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters are flying in and around Korea for the first time to show Washington’’s strong commitment to deter and defeat any provocative acts, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Remington, commander of the US 7th Air Force, told reporters at Osan air base. Seoul and Washington say the four-day exercise which began Sunday their biggest for years and the first in a series — is designed to stress that future attacks will meet a decisive response.

Read the original here:
S.Korea, US stage anti-submarine drill

N.Korea on a ”campaign” of dangerous behaviour: Clinton

Jaimasnafpamb — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:43:00 +0000

HANOI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday accused North Korea of a “campaign” of provocation as an Asia-Pacific security forum descended into recriminations over tensions on the Korean peninsula. A North Korean spokesman reacted by warning of a “physical response” to new US sanctions and condemned massive US-South Korean naval exercises due to begin Sunday in the Sea of Japan as “gunboat diplomacy”. “Here in Asia, an isolated and belligerent North Korea has embarked on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior,” Clinton said in prepared remarks to foreign ministers gathered at the region’’s biggest security dialogue. “Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behaviour.” Clinton is expected to ask China to do more to rein in its communist ally during talks later Friday with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Excerpt from:
N.Korea on a ”campaign” of dangerous behaviour: Clinton

Clinton shares concern over N.Korea-Myanmar military ties

Taplelsoluero — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:18:00 +0000

HANOI: The United States shared concerns with Vietnam on Thursday over exports of military equipment from North Korea to junta-ruled Myanmar, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. After meeting Vietnam’’s Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi, Clinton told reporters she shared with him “our concerns about the exporting by North Korea of military material and equipment to Burma”. “We know that a ship from North Korea recently delivered military equipment to Burma and we continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear programme. “That is a matter that is of concern to ASEAN, and of concern to the United States,” she added in the Vietnamese capital, ahead of Friday’’s ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum.

Go here to see the original:
Clinton shares concern over N.Korea-Myanmar military ties

Clinton leaves South Korea for Vietnam

anjam hafeez — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:37:00 +0000

SEOUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left South Korea Thursday, a US embassy spokesman said, after a one-day visit designed to show solidarity following the sinking of one of Seoul’’s warships. Clinton was headed for the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, where she will attend a meeting Friday of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on security. While visiting Seoul along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, she announced new US sanctions against North Korea in response to the warship sinking which killed 46 people. The United States and South Korea, citing findings of a multinational investigation, accuse the North of torpedoing the ship near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March — a charge it denies. The US and South Korea also announced plans for a series of joint naval exercises starting Sunday as a deterrent to the North, sparking complaints by China that the drills could aggravate regional tensions. Clinton plans to meet China’’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday in Vietnam.

Original post:
Clinton leaves South Korea for Vietnam

US, South Korea to conduct 10 drills this year

basit ali — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:19:00 +0000

SEOUL: The United States and South Korea will stage about 10 naval exercises in coming months including one starting Sunday as a deterrent to North Korea, Seoul’’s defence ministry said Wednesday. On Tuesday the US and South Korean defence chiefs announced a major exercise from July 25-28 off the east coast of the peninsula, following the sinking of a South Korean warship that they blame on a North Korean torpedo. The two sides said the drill was the first in a series but gave no details. “Both sides will continue to conduct joint military exercises — approximately 10 times — in waters surrounding the peninsula for the next several months,” a defence ministry spokesman told media.