Tag Archives: South Korea

South Korea, U.S. to discuss missile defense as South cuts power to Kaesong

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will begin talks with Washington as early as next week on deploying an advanced U.S. missile defense system following North Korea’s rocket launch, an official said on Friday, as Seoul cut power to a factory park run jointly with the North.

The discussions would focus on placing one Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit with the U.S. military in South Korea after the North’s launch last weekend, a South Korean defense official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Seoul and Washington said the test violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

South Korea on Wednesday suspended operations at the Kaesong industrial zone as punishment for the rocket launch and a nuclear test last month. The zone, located just inside North Korea, had operated for more than a decade.

The North called the move “a declaration of war” on Thursday and expelled the South’s workers. Kaesong was the last venue for regular interaction between the divided Koreas.

The 280 South Koreans who had remained in Kaesong rushed to leave the industrial park on Thursday evening, completing the pullout at 11:05 p.m, the South’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said.

A few minutes before midnight, the South shut off the supply of electricity into Kaesong that powered the factory zone, the ministry said early on Friday. It also cut the water supply.

The United States, Japan and South Korea are seeking tougher sanctions against the North following the nuclear test and rocket launch.

Isolated North Korea regularly dismisses the South as a puppet of the United States and just as regularly accuses both of acts of war against it.

U.S. military officials have said the THAAD system was needed in South Korea, but Seoul had been reluctant to openly discuss its deployment as it tried to balance its alliance with the United States and ties with China, its biggest trade partner.

South Korea and the United States said that if THAAD was deployed to South Korea, it would be focused only on the North.

China and Russia have expressed concern about the potential deployment of a system that operates a radar that could penetrate deep into their territories.

THAAD, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final phase of flight.

KAESONG CONFLICT

South Korea accused the North of “illegal” acts by freezing the assets of South Korean companies in Kaesong, warning that Pyongyang would be held responsible for any consequences from the industrial park’s suspension.

The Kaesong project employed about 55,000 North Koreans, who were given a taste of life in the South, working for the 124 mostly small- and medium-sized manufacturers that operated there, about 54 km (34 miles) northwest of Seoul.

The average wage for North Korean workers was roughly $160 a month, paid to a state management company. Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across their heavily armed border.

Despite volatile North-South relations, Kaesong had been shut only once before, for five months in 2013 amid heightened tensions following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.

(Editing by Tony Munroe and Dean Yates)

North Korea says South’s pulling out of industrial zone ‘declaration of war’

PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea said it was kicking out all South Koreans from the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone on Thursday, calling the South’s move to suspend operations, in retaliation for Sunday’s rocket launch by the North, a “declaration of war”.

The North declared the industrial park, run by the rivals as a symbol of cooperation for more than a decade, a military control zone, the agency that handles its ties with Seoul said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Dozens of South Korean trucks were already returning across the border earlier in the day, laden with goods and equipment, after the South said it was pulling out.

“Unpardonable is the puppet group’s act of totally suspending the operation in (Kaesong), finding fault with the DPRK’s H-bomb test and launch of a satellite,” the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said, referring to South Korea.

Isolated North Korea regularly dismisses the South as a puppet of the United States and just as regularly accuses both of acts of war against it.

DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and on Sunday launched a rocket, putting a satellite into orbit.

The United States, Japan and South Korea said Sunday’s launch was a ballistic missile test, and like last month’s nuclear test, a violation of U.N. resolutions. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favor of tougher sanctions.

North Korea ordered South Koreans out of the zone by late afternoon, forbidding them to take anything other than personal belongings, KCNA said. South Korea said after the North’s announcement that its top priority was the safe return of all of its people.

Halting activity at the park, where 124 South Korean companies employed about 55,000 North Koreans, cuts the last significant vestige of North-South cooperation – a rare opportunity for Koreans divided by the 1950-53 war to interact on a daily basis.

North Korean workers were given a taste of life in the South at the complex, about 54 km (34 miles) northwest of Seoul, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North.

They also rubbed shoulders with their managers from South Korea. Supporters of the project said that kind of contact was important in promoting inter-Korean understanding, despite concerns that Pyongyang might have used proceeds from Kaesong to help fund its nuclear and missile programs.

RISKS AND REWARDS

Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across the world’s most fortified frontier.

“We piled up instant noodles, bread and drinks in our warehouse so North Korean workers could come here and eat freely,” said Lee Jong-ku, who runs a firm that installs electrical equipment for apparel factories in Kaesong. “We don’t mind them eating our food, because we only care about them working hard.”

For the North, the revenue opportunity from Kaesong – $110 million in wages and fees in 2015 – was deemed worth the risk of exposing its workers to influences from the prosperous South. In recent years, North Koreans have had increasing access to contraband media, exposing them to life in the South and China.

Still, Pyongyang took precautions to ensure the workers it hand-picked for the complex had minimal contact with their South Korean managers that could be potentially subversive.

“These North Korean workers are strongly armed ideologically,” said Koo Ja-ick, who was waiting on the south side of the border on his way to Kaesong, where he has worked at an apparel company for the past four years.

“They never act individually. They always work and move in a group of two, even manager-level people do so. They never go to the bathroom by themselves – always in groups,” he said.

The average wage for North Korean workers at Kaesong was roughly $160 a month, paid to a state management company. The workers received about 20 percent of that in coupons and North Korean currency, said Cho Bong-hyun, who heads research on North Korea’s economy at IBK Bank in Seoul.

A South Korean government official involved in North Korea policy said it was difficult to see how operations could be resumed anytime soon at Kaesong, which opened in 2005.

Shares of several leading companies in the Kaesong zone plunged in Thursday trading, falling by nearly 10 percent or more. Defense shares, on the other hand, performed strongly.

Despite volatile North-South relations over the years, Kaesong had been shut only once before, for five months in 2013, amid heightened tensions following its third nuclear test. Its future had often seemed uncertain over the past decade.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul; Writing by Tony Munroe. Editing by Bill Tarrant and Nick Macfie)

U.S. and allies aim to track North Korean rocket launch

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States has deployed missile defense systems that will work with the Japanese and South Korean militaries to track a rocket North Korea says it will launch some time over an 18-day period beginning Monday.

China, the North’s sole major ally but opposed to Pyongyang’s nuclear program, appealed for calm.

North Korea has notified U.N. agencies it will launch a rocket carrying what it called an earth observation satellite some time between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25, triggering international opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.

North Korea says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program. But it is barred under U.N. Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.

Coming so soon after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, on Jan. 6, also barred by Security Council resolutions, a rocket launch would raise concern that it plans to fit nuclear warheads on its missiles, giving it the capability to strike South Korea, Japan and possibly the U.S. West Coast.

China has told North Korea that it does not want to see anything happen that could further raise tension, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, describing “a serious situation”, after a special envoy from China visited North Korea this week.

The United States has urged China to use its influence to rein in its neighbor.

Speaking to President Park Geun-hye, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hoped all parties could bear in mind the broader picture of maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, and “calmly deal with the present situation”, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The peninsula cannot be nuclearized, and cannot have war or chaos,” Xi said, also repeating a call for dialogue.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted Pentagon officials as saying that fuelling of the rocket appeared to have begun. It cited satellite footage showing increased activity around the missile launch and fuel storage areas, suggesting preparations for a launch could be completed within “a number of days” at the earliest.

A launch would draw fresh U.S. calls for tougher U.N. sanctions that are already under discussion in response to the nuclear test.

What would likely be an indigenous three-stage rocket will be tracked closely. South Korea and Japan have put their militaries on standby to shoot down the rocket, or its parts, if they go off course and threaten to crash on their territory.

“We will, as we always do, watch carefully if there’s a launch, track the launch, (and) have our missile defense assets positioned and ready,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Thursday.

“We plan a lot about it. We and our close allies – the Japanese and the South Koreans – are ready for it.”

South Korea has said its Aegis destroyers, its Green Pine anti-ballistic missile radar and early warning and control aircraft Peace Eye are ready.

A U.S. Navy spokesman confirmed the missile tracking ship USNS Howard O. Lorenzen arrived in Japan this week but declined to say if it was in response to the North’s planned launch.

SEARCH FOR CLUES

Boosters and other parts will also be tracked as they splash into the sea, in the hope they can be retrieved and analyzed for clues on Pyongyang’s rocket program.

“Retrieving parts or objects from the launch vehicle are the most important part of the rocket analysis,” said Markus Schiller, a rocketry expert based in Germany.

North Korea said the launch would be during the morning and gave coordinates of where the boosters and payload cover would drop in the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast and the Pacific to the east of the Philippines.

The U.S. Navy has sonar equipment and unmanned vehicles that could be used to help recover parts, according to Navy officials. It was not clear if that equipment is in the region.

North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending what it described as a communications satellite into orbit.

South Korea’s navy retrieved the section of the first stage booster that was part of the fuel tank and one of the four steering engines that confirmed the presence of technology and materials that North Korea had not been known to possess.

Analysis pointed to a launch vehicle capable of carrying a payload of about 500 kg (1,100 lb) more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), according to South Korea.

A typical nuclear warhead weighs about 300 kg, although North Korea is not believed to have been able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to that size.

Recovered parts allowed experts to conclude that the second stage booster likely used Soviet-era Scud missile technology and did not use advanced propellant, indicating the rocket was suited for satellite launch but unfit to deliver a warhead.

“My guess is that if you took the rocket they used last time and put a warhead on it you probably would not be able to reach the United States,” said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist at the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The search for information on the North’s rocket program will not be easy.

“Some of the more interesting parts, high-efficiency engines and guidance systems, are in the upper stages, and those usually fall far out to sea, at high speed into deep water,” said John Schilling, an aerospace engineer.

“Harder to find than that Malaysian airliner everybody has been looking for all last year.”

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, David Brunnstrom, Ben Blanchard and Elaine Lies; Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel and Ralph Boulton)

South Korea suspects North Korea may have attempted cyber attacks

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea said on Wednesday it suspected North Korea of attempting cyber attacks against targets in the South, following a nuclear test by the North this month that defied United Nations sanctions.

South Korea has been on heightened military and cyber alert since the Jan. 6 test, which Pyongyang called a successful hydrogen bomb test, although U.S. officials and experts doubt that it managed such a technological advance.

“At this point, we suspect it is an act by North Korea,” Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman of the South’s Unification Ministry, told a news briefing, when asked about reports that the North might have attempted cyber attacks.

Authorities were investigating, Jeong said, but did not provide further details.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the scope of threats from North Korea was expanding to include cyber warfare and the use of drones to infiltrate the South.

North Korea has been using balloons to drop propaganda leaflets in the South, amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula since the nuclear test.

Since the test, there have been unconfirmed news reports that the computer systems of some South Korean government agencies and companies had been infected with malicious codes that might have been sent by the North.

Defectors from the North have previously said the country’s spy agency, run by the military, operates a sophisticated cyber-warfare unit that attempts to hack, and sabotage, enemy targets.

South Korea and the United States blamed North Korea for a 2014 cyber attack on Sony Pictures that crippled its systems and led to the leaks of unreleased films and employee data.

At the time, the company was set to release the film, “The Interview”, featuring a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has denied the allegation.

In 2013, cybersecurity researchers said they believed North Korea was behind a series of attacks against computers at South Korean banks and broadcasting companies.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim; Editing by Tony Munroe)

North Korea says peace treaty, halt to exercises would end nuclear tests

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea on Saturday called for the conclusion of a peace treaty with the United States and a halt to U.S. military exercises with South Korea to end its nuclear tests.

The isolated state has long sought a peace treaty with the United States, as well as an end to the exercises by South Korea and the United States, which has about 28,500 troops based in South Korea.

“Still valid are all proposals for preserving peace and stability on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia including the ones for ceasing our nuclear test and the conclusion of a peace treaty in return for U.S. halt to joint military exercises,” North Korea’s official KCNA news agency cited a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry as saying early on Saturday.

Asked if the United States would consider a halt to joint exercises, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said it had alliance commitments to South Korea.

“We are going to continue to make sure the alliance is ready in all respects to act in defense of the South Korean people and the security of the peninsula,” he told a regular news briefing.

Asked earlier this week about North Korea’s call for a peace treaty, the State Department reiterated its position that it remained open to dialogue with North Korea but said “the onus is on North Korea to take meaningful actions toward denuclearization and refrain from provocations.”

The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea said on Jan. 6 it had tested a hydrogen bomb, provoking condemnation from its neighbors and the United States.

Experts have expressed doubt that the North’s fourth nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of a less powerful atomic bomb, in 2013.

Pyongyang is under U.N. sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs.

(Reporting by Tony Munroe in Seoul; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, editing by Andrew Roche and Tom Brown)

South Korea calls for ‘bone-numbing’ sanctions on North for nuclear test

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict “bone-numbing pain” after its latest nuclear test, and called on China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbor.

With tension high on the border after the North’s fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots toward what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone.

It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters.

The North’s nuclear test has angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons.

The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea’s foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting, which was to have been the country’s first participation in the event in 18 years, because of the nuclear test.

North Korea said it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North.

But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country’s nuclear arsenal, urging the “detonation of more powerful H-bombs”, the North’s state media reported.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more “provocations” by the North including “cyber-terrorism” were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics.

“We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally,” she said in a speech.

Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China has stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate the North’s nuclear program.

China is the North’s main ally and trade partner but it has made clear it opposes its bombs, while China’s ties with South Korea have grown increasingly close in recent years.

“I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn’t followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North’s fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability,” Park said.

“I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further.”

Sung Kim, the special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a “meaningful” new sanctions resolution is needed from the Security Council.

“I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution,” he said.

‘FINANCIAL PRESSURE’

China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s efforts toward a denuclearized Korean peninsula would continue.

“This is in everyone’s interests and is everyone’s responsibility, including China and South Korea,” he said.

The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly.

The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was not brought up for a vote until after North Korea’s latest test.

“(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jon Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule,” said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure.

To become law, it must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama.

The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North.

South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border.

South Korea’s military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped by North Korean hot air balloons.

South Korean financial regulators met computer security officials at 16 banks and financial institutions and urged vigilance in the face of possible cyber attacks by North Korea, although none has been detected.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim, James Pearson, Jee Heun Kahng, Hooyeon Kim, Dahee Kim and Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Tom Miles in GENEVA, Patricia Zengerle in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)

U.S. flies B-52 over South Korea after North’s nuclear test

SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea on Sunday, a show of force following North Korea’s nuclear test last week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un maintained that Wednesday’s test was of a hydrogen bomb and said it was a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.

North Korea’s fourth nuclear test angered both China, its main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North’s claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.

The massive B-52, based in Guam and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, could be seen in a low flight over Osan Air Base at around noon. It was flanked by two fighter planes, a U.S. F-16 and a South Korean F-15, before returning to Guam, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Osan is south of Seoul and 48 miles from the Demilitarised Zone that separates the two Koreas. The flight was “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea”, the U.S. military said.

In Washington, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said on Sunday the flight underscored to South Korea “the deep and enduring alliance that we have with them.”

“Last night was a step toward reassurance in that regard and that was important,” McDonough said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He said the United States would continue to work with China and Russia, as well as allies Japan and South Korea, to isolate the North until it lives up to its commitments to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

“Until they do it they’ll remain where they are, which is an outcast unable to provide for their own people,” McDonough said.

China has publicly supported a denuclearised Korean Peninsula, and the United States will “make sure that they understand that a nuclear North Korea is not a stable scenario,” he said.

After the North’s last test, in 2013, the United States sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea. At the time, the North responded by threatening a nuclear attack on the United States.

The United States is also considering sending a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to waters off the Korean peninsula next month to join a naval exercise with Seoul, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported without identifying a source. However, U.S. Forces Korea officials said they had no knowledge of the plan.

The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and the United States has about 28,500 troops based in South Korea.

An editorial in the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday called for a peace treaty with the United States, which is the North’s long-standing position. “Only when a peace treaty is concluded between the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. can genuine peace settle in the Korean Peninsula,” state news agency KCNA quoted it as saying.

The United States and China have both dangled the prospect of better relations, including the lifting of sanctions, if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Sunday, KCNA quoted Kim as saying no one had the right to criticize the North’s nuclear tests.

“The DPRK’s H-bomb test … is a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists,” it quoted Kim as saying.

The North’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize,” he said.

TIMING OF TEST

Kim’s comments were in line with the North’s official rhetoric blaming the United States for deploying nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula to justify its nuclear program but were the first by its leader since Wednesday’s blast.

The United States has said it has no nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea.

Kim noted the test was being held ahead of a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party later this year, “which will be a historic turning point in accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche,” according to KCNA.

Juche is the North’s home-grown state ideology that combines Marxism and extreme nationalism established by the state founder and the current leader’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

KCNA said Kim made the comments on a visit to the country’s Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces.

South Korea continued to conduct high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border into the North on Sunday.

The broadcasts, which include “K-pop” music and statements critical of the Kim government, began on Friday and are considered an insult by Pyongyang. A top North Korean official told a rally on Friday that the broadcasts had pushed the rival Koreas to the “brink of war.”

Daily life was mostly as normal on the South Korean side of the border on Sunday. A popular ice fishing festival near the border attracted an estimated 121,300 people on Saturday and 100,000 on Sunday, Yonhap reported.

(Additional reporting by James Pearson, Jee Heun Kahng, Ju-min Park and Do-gyun Kim and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Raissa Kasolowsky and Peter Cooney)

Pressure grows on China to rein in North Korea; South launches propaganda barrage

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) – South Korea unleashed an ear-splitting propaganda barrage across its border with North Korea on Friday in retaliation for its nuclear test, while the United States called on China to end “business as usual” with its ally.

The broadcasts, in rolling bursts from walls of loudspeakers at 11 locations along the heavily militarized border, blared rhetoric critical of the Pyongyang regime as well as “K-pop” music. North Korea later responded with its own broadcasts.

Wednesday’s nuclear test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang’s claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb.

China is North Korea’s main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

China’s Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearization pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, but also said China did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

“Achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and safeguarding the peninsula’s peace and stability accords with all parties’ mutual interests, is the responsibility of all parties, and requires all parties to put forth efforts,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing.

The North agreed to end its nuclear program in international negotiations in 2005 but later walked away from the deal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that he had told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China’s approach to North Korea had not succeeded.

“APPROACH HAS NOT WORKED”

“China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that,” Kerry told reporters after the phone call. “Today, in my conversation with the Chinese, I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.”

In a call on Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, Wang said talks on the issue should be resumed as soon as possible, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

South Korea’s nuclear safety agency said it had found a minuscule amount of xenon gas in a sample from off its east coast but said more analysis and samples were needed to determine if it came from a nuclear test.

The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which uses monitoring stations around the world to detect atomic tests, said only “normal” levels of xenon had been detected, at a site in Japan.

“Xenon readings at 1st station downwind of #DPRK test site RN38 Takasaki #Japan at normal concentrations. Sampling continues,” the CTBTO’s executive secretary, Lassina Zerbo, said on Twitter on Friday evening.

The presence of xenon would not indicate whether the blast was from a hydrogen device or a simpler fission explosion.

Seismic waves created by the blast were almost identical to those generated in North Korea’s last nuclear test in 2013, Jeffrey Park, a seismologist at Yale University, wrote in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website, adding to scepticism about the hydrogen bomb claim.

Meanwhile, South Korea resumed its frontier broadcasts, which the isolated North has in the past threatened to stop with military strikes.

The last time South Korea deployed the loudspeakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an exchange of artillery fire.

The sound can carry 10 km (6 miles) into North Korea during the day and more than twice that at night, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.

BORDER PROPAGANDA

A male announcer could be heard from South Korea telling North Koreans that their leader Kim Jong Un and his wife wear clothes costing thousands of dollars. Another message said Kim’s promises to boost both the economy and the nuclear program were unrealistic.

The North’s broadcasts were not clearly audible from the South and appeared intended to drown out those from the South, Yonhap said, citing a South Korean official.

As North Korea boosted troop deployments in front-line units, the South vowed to retaliate against any attack on its equipment, raised its military readiness to the highest level near the loudspeakers, canceled tours of the Demilitarized Zone on the border, and also raised its cyberattack alert level.

In Washington, the North’s actions appeared to have forged rare unity in the House of Representatives between Republicans and Democrats on tightening sanctions against North Korea.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

But it is unclear how more sanctions will deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006.

The United States and South Korea are limited in their military options. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013.

North Korea responded then by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

A South Korean military official said Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.

(Additional reporting by James Pearson, Se Young Lee, Christine Kim, Jee Heun Kahng, Ju-min Park and Jack Kim in SEOUL, Dagyum Ji in GIMPO, Patricia Zengerle, Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu and Arshad Mohammed in WASHINGTON, Tim Kelly in YOKOSUKA and Francois Murphy in VIENNA; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Paul Tait and Kevin Liffey)

End ‘business as usual’ with North Korea, U.S. tells China

By Lesley Wroughton and Ju-min Park

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States called on China on Thursday to end “business as usual” with its ally North Korea after Pyongyang defied world powers by announcing it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China’s approach to North Korea had failed.

“China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that,” Kerry told reporters. “Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.”

China is the North’s main economic and diplomatic backer although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years.

The vast majority of North Korea’s business dealings are with China, which bought 90 percent of the isolated country’s exports in 2013, according to data compiled by South Korea’s International Trade Association.

North Korea carried out a nuclear test on Wednesday, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang’s assertion that the device it exploded was a powerful hydrogen bomb.

The test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice.

As of Thursday morning, “sniffer” planes and other sensors had yet to detect any evidence, such as particles in the air, that would substantiate the North Korean assertion that it had set off an H-Bomb, a U.S. government source said.

North Korea also said it was capable of miniaturizing the hydrogen bomb, in theory allowing it to be placed on a missile and threatening the U.S. West Coast, South Korea and Japan.

U.S. CONGRESS TO ACT

U.S. Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to further tighten sanctions on North Korea.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, told reporters that Democrats would support a North Korea bill likely to be brought for a vote by Republicans next week. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.

The legislation was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last February but it was stalled until Pyongyang jolted the world by setting off an underground nuclear bomb test.

The House measure would target banks facilitating North Korea’s nuclear program and authorize freezing of U.S. assets of those directly linked to illicit North Korean activities. It would also penalize those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency.

“We understand Republican leadership plans to move a bill strengthening U.S. sanctions on North Korea. That will have strong bipartisan support,” Pelosi said, adding that “we will support it.”

It was unclear how more sanctions would deter North Korea, which has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006 while paying little heed to international pressure.

The United States and its ally South Korea are limited in their military response. After North Korea last tested a nuclear device, in 2013, Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

The test also alarmed Japan. Its prime minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm global response was needed, the White House said.

Obama also discussed options with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.

A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details.

A White House spokesman said there had been no talk with South Korea about any introduction of the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, a move opposed by China.

“There have been no discussions or consultations with the South Koreans” about the deployment of anti-ballistic missile capability,” the spokesman, Josh Earnest, said.

The system has radars that can track multiple ballistic missiles up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away, a range which would reach deep into China.

In response to the latest test, South Korea said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, which is likely to infuriate its isolated rival.

The South raised its military alert to the highest level in areas along the border near its propaganda loudspeakers, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

“Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment,” a South Korean national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho, James Pearson, Se Young Lee, Christine Kim, Jee Heun Kahng and Jack Kim in SEOUL, Patricia Zengerle, Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu and Arshad Mohammed in WASHINGTON,; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Howard Goller)

Japan, China, and South Korean Leaders to Revive Dialogue at First Summit in Three Years

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and South Korean President Park Geun Hye will meet in Seoul on Sunday for the first summit between the three countries in since 2012.

While past historical issues will most likely be brought up, the leaders hope to move forward in order to boost stability in Northeast Asia and better relations with Tokyo, according to South Korean and Chinese officials. The Washington Post also reports that all three countries are concerned over North Korea and its nuclear capabilities and may discuss the matter at the meeting. However, Sunday’s meeting is said to be a first step toward burying the past.

“None of them wants to be seen stonewalling the cooperation,” said Shin Kawashima, a University of Tokyo professor of international studies. They all have soft spots “so they want to find a comfortable middle ground,” he told Fox News.

And it is a tricky situation for the three Asian powers as Tokyo does not want to discuss history, Beijing, for political reasons, can’t be too friendly with Japan, and Seoul doesn’t want the U.S. to think they are getting too close to China.

Reuters reports that the bad blood between the nations are due to past wartimes when China and South Korea suffered under Japan’s colonial rule and brutal occupation before Japan was defeated in 1945.