Tag Archives: Tensions

U.S. targets Chinese and Russia entities over North Korea

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin walks through the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By David Brunnstrom and Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is imposing new North Korea-related sanctions, targeting Chinese and Russian firms and individuals for supporting Pyongyang’s weapons programs, U.S. officials announced on Tuesday, but stopped short of an anticipated focus on Chinese banks.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated six Chinese-owned entities, one Russian, one North Korean and two based in Singapore. They included a Namibia-based subsidiary of a Chinese company and a North Korean entity operating in Namibia.

Six individuals including four Russians, one Chinese and one North Korean were targeted, the Treasury Department said.

The move follows toughened United Nations sanctions agreed this month after North Korea tested its first two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

The Treasury Department said the new sanctions targeted those helping already-designated individuals supporting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its energy trade. They included three Chinese coal importers.

The steps also targeted those helping North Korea send workers abroad and enabling sanctioned North Korea entities to get access to the U.S. and international financial system.

“Treasury will continue to increase pressure on North Korea by targeting those who support the advancement of nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and isolating them from the American financial system,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement.

“It is unacceptable for individuals and companies in China, Russia, and elsewhere to enable North Korea to generate income used to develop weapons of mass destruction.”

A new round of U.S. sanctions had been expected, but Washington appeared to delay them while securing Chinese and Russian support for tougher U.N. steps.

U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats say the threat of U.S. “secondary sanctions” against Chinese firms with North Korean ties and trade pressure helped persuade China to drop opposition to the U.N. sanctions.

The latest steps stopped short of targeting Chinese financial institutions dealing with North Korea, a step that would have greatly angered Beijing. The Trump administration is still hoping China will pressure Pyongyang.

“The sanctions target a range of North Korea’s illicit activities and the focus on Chinese facilitators is another message to Beijing,” said Anthony Ruggiero, a Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow and former U.S. Treasury official.

“However, there are missing elements. There’s no focus on the efforts of Chinese banks that facilitate these transactions. In addition, these Chinese networks likely have additional front companies operating on behalf of the network and those were not sanctioned.”

China is North Korea’s neighbor and main trading partner and U.S. foreign policy experts say Chinese companies have long had a key role in financing Pyongyang.

The Chinese and Russians embassies in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. China has said in the past it is strongly opposed to unilateral sanctions outside the U.N. framework, and has accused the United States of using “long-arm” jurisdiction in targeting Chinese entities.

(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by David Alexander and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Japan urges pressure on North Korea as U.S. spells out choices

FILE PHOTO: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono gestures during a news conference on the sidelines of the 50th Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila, Philippines August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Stephanie Nebehay

TOKYO/GENEVA (Reuters) – Japan said on Tuesday the world must keep pressure on North Korea to rein in its nuclear and missile programs as the United States spelt out the choice for impoverished Pyongyang between belligerence and prosperity.

North Korea has pursued its weapons tests in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions and ignored all calls, including from major ally China, to stop, prompting a bellicose exchange of rhetoric between the North and the United States.

North Korea justifies its weapons programs, including its recent threat to fire missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, by pointing to perceived U.S. hostility, such as military exercises with South Korea this week.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said pressure must be maintained until the North demonstrated it would give up its nuclear program.

“It’s not the time to discuss (the resumption of) six-party talks,” Kono said, referring to international negotiations involving both Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

“It’s time to exert pressure,” he told reporters.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top priority is to protect the United States and its allies against the “growing threat” from North Korea and America is ready to use “the full range of capabilities” at its disposal, a U.S. envoy said.

U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood told a U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva the “path to dialogue still remains an option” for Pyongyang and it had the choice between poverty and belligerence and prosperity and acceptance.

There was no immediate reply from the North Korean delegate in the room.

‘CRAZY’ TO SHARE TIMELINE

The head of the U.S. military’s Pacific Command said diplomacy was key.

Admiral Harry Harris was in South Korea to observe annual joint military drills with the South Korean military, which the North called a step towards nuclear conflict masterminded by U.S. and South Korean “war maniacs”.

“So we hope and we work for diplomatic solutions to the challenge presented by Kim Jong Un,” Harris told reporters at a U.S. air base in Osan, about an hour from the capital, Seoul, referring to the North Korean leader.

He said diplomacy was “the most important starting point” in response to the North’s threat, when asked what actions by North Korea might trigger a preemptive U.S. strike against it.

“As far as a timeline, it would be crazy for me to share with you those tripwires in advance. If we did that, it would hardly be a military strategy,” he said.

The United States and South Korea began the long-planned exercises on Monday, called the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which the allies have said are purely defensive.

The drills end on Aug. 31 and involve tens of thousands of troops as well as computer simulations designed to prepare for war with a nuclear-capable North Korea.

A North Korean army spokesman repeated a threat of retaliation against the United States for readying a preemptive strike and a war of aggression, using the drills as an excuse to mount such an attack.

“The U.S. will be wholly held accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by such reckless aggressive war maneuvers, as it chose a military confrontation,” the unidentified spokesman said in comments carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

The United States and North Korea are technically still at war with the North because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Writing by Jack Kim and Nick Macfie; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Merkel attacks Turkey’s ‘misuse’ of Interpol warrants

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU), presents the new interactive election campaign ahead of the upcoming federal election in Berlin, Germany August 18, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Turkey’s use of an Interpol arrest warrant to detain a German writer in Spain, telling an election town hall event on Sunday that this amounted to abuse of the international police agency.

Dogan Akhanli was stopped in Spain on Saturday after Ankara issued a “red notice”. The German-Turkish writer was released on Sunday but must remain in Madrid while Spain assesses Turkey’s extradition request.

“It is not right and I’m very glad that Spain has now released him,” Merkel said. “We must not misuse international organisations like Interpol for such purposes.”

Relations between Turkey and the European Union have been under growing strain since last year’s failed military coup in Turkey. European-Turkish nationals are among the 50,000 people detained since then in what critics condemn as an indiscriminate crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Merkel has been more muted in her criticism of Erdogan than other German politicians, with critics charging her with being beholden to Erdogan because of Turkey’s role as a buffer against a renewed flood of Syrian war refugees arriving in Europe.

“(Dogan’s) is one of many cases, unfortunately,” Merkel said, in a sharpening of her tone toward Ankara. “That’s why we have massively changed our Turkish policy recently … because it’s quite unacceptable that Erdogan does this.”

On Saturday Erdogan urged Turks in Germany to “teach a lesson” to Germany’s “anti-Turkish” mainstream parties in next month’s parliamentary election, despite German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel’s warning he should keep out of German politics.

“Who are you to talk to the president of Turkey? Talk to Turkey’s foreign minister. Know your place,” Erdogan said at a rally for his AK Party in the southwestern province of Denizli.

European countries with large Turkish diasporas have grown increasingly uneasy at what they see as Ankara’s attempts to use ethnic Turkish populations to influence domestic politics.

“President Erdogan is trying to instrumentalise ethnic Turkish communities, especially in German and Austria,” Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told Die Welt newspaper. “He polarises and brings Turkish conflicts into the EU.”

The final days before elections in the Netherlands this year were overshadowed by violent protests by local affiliates of Erdogan’s party. German security officials have expressed concern about a possible repetition in Germany.

Interpol did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Merkel’s remarks.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt in Berlin and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Editing by Jon Boyle and Sandra Maler)

Erdogan tells Turks in Germany to vote against Merkel

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets the audience during a ceremony to mark the 16th anniversary of his ruling AK Party's foundation in Ankara, Turkey, August 14, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

By Bulent Usta

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats were enemies of Turkey and called on Turks in Germany to vote against major parties in next month’s elections.

The comments are some of Erdogan’s harshest yet against Merkel and her Christian Democrats, illustrating the widening divide between the NATO allies and major trade partners.

Ties between Ankara and Berlin have been strained in the aftermath of last year’s failed coup as Turkish authorities have sacked or suspended 150,000 people and detained more than 50,000 people, including German nationals.

Germany has voiced concern that Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. Erdogan, an authoritarian leader whose roots are in political Islam, has accused Germany of anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim sentiment.

“I am calling on all my countrymen in Germany: the Christian Democrats, SDP, the Green Party are all enemies of Turkey. Support those political parties who are not enemies of Turkey,” he said in comments after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

“I call on them not to vote for those parties who have been engaged in such aggressive, disrespectful attitudes against Turkey, and I invite them to teach a lesson to those political parties at the ballot box,” he said.

Germany has a large Turkish diaspora and it contains a broad range of opinion on Turkish politics.

Germans go to the polls on Sept. 24 for elections where Merkel is running for a fourth term. Her conservatives enjoy a comfortable lead over the Social Democrats (SPD), their current coalition partner and major rival.

As a result, Erdogan’s comments are unlikely to sway the election’s outcome.

Western governments, particularly Germany, have expressed apprehension at Erdogan’s tightening grip on power. In April, Turks narrowly backed a referendum to change the constitution and grant Erdogan sweeping executive powers.

In the run-up to the referendum, German authorities prevented Turkish politicians from speaking to rallies of Turkish citizens in Germany, infuriating Ankara.

Turkey also blocked Berlin lawmakers from visiting their troops stationed in southern Turkey. The troops were later relocated to Jordan.

Merkel has also said there would be no expansion of a customs union or deepening in EU-Turkish ties, comments which infuriated Turkey.

Erdogan on Friday said Merkel’s remarks on the customs union showed Germany had become a country that violates the European Union’s acquis, or body of law.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Dominic Evans and Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

With a wary eye on Iran, Saudi and Iraqi leaders draw closer

With a wary eye on Iran, Saudi and Iraqi leaders draw closer

By Ahmed Rasheed and Sylvia Westall

BAGHDAD/DUBAI (Reuters) – It was an unusual meeting: An Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim cleric openly hostile to the United States sat in a palace sipping juice at the invitation of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Sunni kingdom that is Washington’s main ally in the Middle East.

For all the implausibility, the motivations for the July 30 gathering in Jeddah between Moqtada al-Sadr and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman run deep, and center on a shared interest in countering Iranian influence in Iraq.

For Sadr, who has a large following among the poor in Baghdad and southern Iraqi cities, it was part of efforts to bolster his Arab and nationalist image ahead of elections where he faces Shi’ite rivals close to Iran.

For the newly elevated heir to the throne of conservative Saudi Arabia, the meeting – and talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in June – is an attempt to build alliances with Iraqi Shi’ite leaders in order to roll back Iranian influence.

“Sadr’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a bold shift of his policy to deliver a message to regional, influential Sunni states that not all Shi’ite groups carry the label ‘Made in Iran’,” said Baghdad-based analyst Ahmed Younis.

This policy has assumed greater prominence now that Islamic State has been driven back in northern Iraq, giving politicians time to focus on domestic issues ahead of provincial council elections in September and a parliamentary vote next year.

“This is both a tactical and strategic move by Sadr. He wants to play the Saudis off against the Iranians, shake down both sides for money and diplomatic cover,” said Ali Khedery, who was a special assistant to five U.S. ambassadors in Iraq.

“NECESSARY EVIL”

Ultimately, Sadr seeks a leadership role in Iraq that would allow him to shape events without becoming embroiled in daily administration, which could erode his popularity, diplomats and analysts say.

Such a role – religious guide and political kingmaker – would fit with the patriarchal status the Sadr religious dynasty has for many Shi’ite Arabs in Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Days after the Jeddah meeting, Sadr met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, who has also taken an assertive line against Tehran, the dominant foreign power in Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion ended Sunni minority rule.

Iran has since increased its regional influence, with its forces and allied militias spearheading the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and holding sway in Baghdad.

For Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the bastion of Sunni Islam, less Iranian influence in Iraq would be a big win in a rivalry that underpins conflict across the Middle East.

“There are plans to secure peace and reject sectarianism in the region,” Sadr told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper last week, saying that it was “necessary to bring Iraq back into the Arab fold”.

When asked what Saudi Arabia hoped to achieve with Sadr’s recent visit to the Kingdom and the UAE, a Saudi official at the Saudi embassy in Washington said: “Saudi Arabia hopes to encourage Iraqis to work together to build a strong resilient and independent state. With that in mind, it will reach out to any party who could contribute to achieving that goal.”

Washington supports the Saudi-Iraq rapprochement, but the embracing of Sadr raises questions about whether it sees a man known for his anti-Americanism as a reliable figure.

“It is perhaps close to a necessary evil,” a U.S. official said of the visit, although he said it was a “very uncomfortable position for us to be in” due to Sadr’s anti-Americanism, which had led to the deaths of U.S. citizens.

“His visits to the region, and broadly the high-profile visits by Iraq, those things broadly are good, in that they get Iraq facing the Gulf nations and they help to turn their attention away from Iran,” the official said.

A second U.S. official said that Washington viewed the visits positively, “not because we’re Sadr fans but because we’ve been pushing Saudi Arabia to mend fences and open gates with Iraq”.

LIMITED INFLUENCE

A politician close to Sadr said the Jeddah meeting was aimed at building confidence and toning down sectarian rhetoric between the two countries.

The rapprochement is “a careful testing of the waters with the Abadi government and some of the Shia centers of influence like Sadr and the interior minister,” said Ali Shihabi, executive director of the Washington-based Arabia Foundation.

How far detente can go is unclear: Iran has huge political, military and economic influence in Iraq. Saudi Arabia is playing catch-up, having reopened an embassy in Baghdad only in 2015 after a 25-year break caused by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Whatever the Saudis and Gulf states do, “Iran will stay the key player in Iraq for at least the next 10 years,” said Wathiq al-Hashimi, chairman of the Iraqi Group for Strategic Studies think-tank.

Khedery said Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states were not skilled at exerting external influence.

“They usually just throw money at issues and the beneficiaries of that largesse become very, very wealthy and that’s it,” he said. The Iranians in Iraq offered intelligence, diplomatic support and cash and wielded “big sticks” against anyone stepping out of line, he said.

Still, the Jeddah meeting has produced practical results.

Sadr’s office said there was an agreement to study investment in Shi’ite regions of southern Iraq. Riyadh will also consider opening a consulate in Iraq’s holy Shi’ite city of Najaf, Sadr’s base.

Saudi Arabia would donate $10 million to help Iraqis displaced by the war on Islamic State in Iraq, Sadr said, while Iraq’s oil minister said Riyadh had discussed building hospitals in Basra and Baghdad.

After the Saudi trip, Sadr again urged the Iraqi government to dismantle the Tehran-backed Shi’ite paramilitary groups involved in the fight against Islamic State – a theme that is expected to become a top election issue.

A source from Sadr’s armed group told Reuters that after the visit orders were issued to remove anti-Saudi banners from its headquarters, vehicles and streets.

Sadr had called on the Saudis to “stop hostile speeches by fanatical hardline clerics who describe Shi’ites as infidels,” and Crown Prince Mohammed had promised efforts toward this, the politician close to Sadr said.

It remains to be seen how far Saudi Arabia can prevent anti-Shi’ite outbursts by its media or on social media, since Wahhabism, the kingdom’s official ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim school, regards Shi’ism as heretical.

But the Saudi minister of state for Gulf affairs, Thamer al-Subhan, called for tolerance after greeting Sadr, using Twitter to decry “Sunni extremism and Shi’ite extremism”.

Saudi Arabia this week cracked down on Twitter users, including a radical Sunni cleric who published insulting comments about Shi’ites.

WIDER RAPPROCHEMENT

As part of the wider detente, Iraq and Saudi Arabia announced last month they are setting up a council to upgrade strategic relations.

The Saudi cabinet has approved a joint trade commission to look at investment while a Saudi daily reported the countries planned to reopen a border crossing shut for more than 25 years – a point raised by Sadr on his visit.

Brett McGurk, U.S. special envoy for the coalition against Islamic State, tweeted earlier on Wednesday that he had visited the Iraq-Saudi border: “Closed since ’90. ISIS attacked in ’15. Today: secure, re-open, bustling w/1200 pilgrims per day.”

Another sign of rapprochement is an agreement to increase direct flights to a daily basis. Iraqi Airways hopes to reopen offices in Saudi airports to help Iraqis travel to the kingdom, especially for pilgrimages, Iraq’s transport ministry said.

Then there is coordination on energy policy.

As OPEC producers, the two cooperated in November to support oil prices. Their energy ministers discussed bilateral cooperation and investment last week.

Iranian reaction to the meetings has been minimal.

“Iraqi personalities and officials do not need our permission to travel outside of Iraq or to report to us,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said last week, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

(Additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Erbil, William Maclean and Rania El Gamal in Dubai and Yara Bayoumy in Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood and Leslie Adler)

Trump praises N.Korean leader’s decision not to fire missiles towards Guam

Trump praises N.Korean leader's decision not to fire missiles towards Guam

By Ben Blanchard and Tim Kelly

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a “wise” decision not to fire missiles towards the U.S. territory of Guam and for easing escalating tension between the two countries.

Reclusive North Korea has made no secret of its plan to develop a missile capable of firing a nuclear warhead at the United States to counter what it perceives as constant U.S. threats of invasion, and tension has been rising for months.

Trump warned North Korea last week it would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States, prompting North Korea to say it was considering test-firing missiles towards the Pacific island of Guam.

But North Korean media reported on Tuesday Kim had delayed the decision while he awaited to see what the United States did next.

“Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!”

North Korea has long ignored warnings from the West and from its lone major ally, China, to halt its nuclear and missile tests which it conducts in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The United States has been hoping China can press the North to rein in its weapons programmes. The top U.S. general reiterated that in talks in Beijing this week.

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told Fang Fenghui, chief of the Joint Staff Department of the People’s Liberation Army, in Beijing that North Korea’s weapons programmes threatened the entire international community, including China.

“He emphasised that the U.S. and China have the same goal – a denuclearised Korean peninsula achieved through peaceful means … North Korean actions threaten the economic and military security of China,” a U.S. military spokesman said in a statement.

“In the interest of regional stability, he said the U.S. views with growing urgency the need for China to increase pressure on the North Korean regime,” the spokesman said.

“Should preferred diplomatic and economic peaceful options fail, General Dunford reiterated America’s resolve to use the full range of military capabilities to defend our allies in the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as the U.S. homeland.”

‘SOLIDARITY AND RESOLVE’

China has repeatedly called for all sides to exercise restraint and remain calm, and while it has signed up for tough U.N. sanctions on North Korea, it says the key to a resolution lies in Washington and Pyongyang talking to each other, rather than expecting China to do all the work.

Japan conducted air manoeuvres with U.S. bombers southwest of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday involving two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flying from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and two Japanese F-15 jet fighters, Japan’s Air Self Defence Force said in a news release.

“These training flights with Japan demonstrate the solidarity and resolve we share with our allies to preserve peace and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific,” the U.S. Air Force said.

The U.S. aircraft have flown several sorties in East Asia over recent weeks. In addition to air drills with Japanese fighters, the bombers have also exercised with South Korean aircraft.

North Korea regards the U.S. exercises with South Korea and Japan as preparations for invasion. The exercises also upset China, which says they do nothing to ease tension.

On Wednesday, a senior Chinese military officer reiterated China’s position on the need to maintain peace and stability to Dunford, China’s Defence Ministry said.

Song Puxuan, commander of China’s Northern Theatre Command, stressed to Dunford that the North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved politically through talks, the ministry added.

The command is based in China’s northeastern city of Shenyang and has responsibility for a swath of northern China, including the border with North Korea.

North Korea’s threat to fire towards Guam had prompted U.S. Trump to say the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” if North Korea acted unwisely.

‘RECKLESS ACTIONS’

In his first public appearance in about two weeks, Kim on Monday inspected the command of North Korea’s army, examining the plan to fire four missiles aimed at landing near Guam, the official KCNA news agency reported.

“He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important decision as it already declared,” KCNA said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Wednesday’s air exercise took place close to Japanese-controlled islets in the East China Sea which are also claimed by China. The uninhabited territory is known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

While the United States has declined to take sides in the dispute over the tiny islands, it nonetheless has said it would defend them from attack under its security alliance with Japan.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a telephone conversation with Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s minister for foreign affairs, said tension on the Korean peninsula was showing some signs of easing but had not passed.

The parties involved should “make a correct judgment and wise choice by taking a responsible attitude toward history and people”, Wang said, according to a statement on his ministry’s website.

(Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo, and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)

North Korea delays Guam missile firing, U.S. says dialogue up to Kim

North Korea delays Guam missile firing, U.S. says dialogue up to Kim

By Christine Kim and Yeganeh Torbati

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delayed a decision on firing missiles towards Guam while he waits to see what the United States does, the North’s state media reported on Tuesday as the United States said any dialogue was up to Kim.

The United States and South Korea have prepared for more joint military drills, which has infuriated the North, and experts warned it could still go ahead with a provocative plan.

In his first public appearance in about two weeks, Kim inspected the command of the North’s army on Monday, examining a plan to fire four missiles aimed at landing near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, the official KCNA news agency reported.

“He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important decision as it already declared,” KCNA said.

The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang’s plans to fire missiles near Guam prompted a surge in tensions in the region last week, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” if North Korea acted unwisely.

But U.S. officials have taken a gentler tone in recent days.

Asked by reporters on Tuesday about the North Korean delay, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it was up to Kim to decide if he wants to talk to the United States.

“We continue to be interested in finding a way to get to dialogue but that’s up to him,” Tillerson told reporters.

In photos released with the KCNA report, Kim was seen holding a baton and pointing at a map showing a flight path for the missiles appearing to start from North Korea’s east coast, flying over Japan toward Guam. North Korea has often threatened to attack the United States and its bases and released similar photos in the past but never followed through.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday his government would prevent war by all means.

“Military action on the Korean peninsula can only be decided by South Korea and no one else can decide to take military action without the consent of South Korea,” Moon said in a speech to commemorate the anniversary of the nation’s liberation from Japanese military rule in 1945.

“The government, putting everything on the line, will block war by all means,” Moon said.

Asian shares rose for a second day on Tuesday and the dollar firmed after Kim’s comments. U.S. stocks were flat at midday on Tuesday.

Speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was urgent the United States and North Korea “put the brakes” on mutually irritating words and actions, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

‘NO STEPPING BACK’

Japan will seek further reassurance from Washington in meetings between Japan’s defense chief and foreign minister and their U.S. counterparts on Thursday.

“The strategic environment is becoming harsher and we need to discuss how we will respond to that,” a Japanese foreign ministry official said in a briefing in Tokyo.

“We will look for the U.S. to reaffirm it defense commitment, including the nuclear deterrent.”

The Liberation Day holiday, celebrated by both North and South, will be followed next week by joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.

North Korea has persisted with its nuclear and missile programs to ward off perceived U.S. hostility, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions.

China, North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, has repeatedly urged Pyongyang to halt its weapons program and at the same time urged South Korea and the United States to stop military drills to lower tensions.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor and military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, urged caution in assuming North Korea was bluffing with its missile threats.

“There is no stepping back for North Korea. Those who don’t know the North very well fall into this trap every time (thinking they are easing threats) but we’ve seen this before.”

The United States and South Korea remain technically at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea is currently holding three U.S. citizens it accuses of espionage or hostile acts, but now is not the right time to discuss them, KCNA reported, cited a foreign ministry spokesman.

Pyongyang has used detainees to extract concessions, including high-profile visitors from the United States, which has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

On Guam, home to a U.S. air base, a Navy installation, a Coast Guard group and roughly 6,000 U.S. military personnel, residents expressed relief at the lessening of tensions.

“I’m reading between the lines that I don’t see an imminent threat,” Guam Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio told a media briefing in the island’s capital of Hagatna.

For an interactive on North Korea’s missile capabilities, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/010041L63FE/index.html

For a graphic on North Korea’s missile trajectories, ranges, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/010050CG0RT/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES.png

For a graphic on Americans detained by North Korea, click: http://apac1.proxy.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/fingfx/gfx/rngs/USA-NORTHKOREA/0100412Z2B4/northkorea-detainee.jpg

(Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Jane Chung in Seoul, Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Joseph Campbell in Guam; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Alistair Bell; Editing by Michael Perry, Nick Macfie and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Philippines says China agrees on no new expansion in South China Sea

FILE PHOTO: A Filipino soldier looks out from a boat in Philippine occupied Thitu island in disputed South China Sea, April 21, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

By Manuel Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) – China has assured the Philippines it will not occupy new features or territory in the South China Sea, under a new “status quo” brokered by Manila as both sides try to strengthen their relations, the Philippine defense minister said.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano also said the Philippines was working on a “commercial deal” with China to explore and exploit oil and gas resources in disputed areas of the South China Sea with an aim to begin drilling within a year.

The defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, told a congressional hearing the Philippines and China had reached a “modus vivendi”, or a way to get along, in the South China Sea that prohibits new occupation of islands.

“The Chinese will not occupy new features in the South China Sea nor they are going to build structures in Scarborough Shoal,” Lorenzana told lawmakers late on Monday, referring to a prime fishing ground close to the Philippines that China blockaded from 2012 to 2016.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a waterway through which about $3 trillion worth of sea-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have conflicting claims in the area.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June last year, has courted China and avoided rows over maritime sovereignty that dogged his predecessors, while berating traditional ally the United States over several issues.

China has built seven islands upon reefs in disputed areas, three of which, experts say, are capable of accommodating fighter jets. They have runways, radars and surface-to-air missiles which China says are for defense.

Lorenzana did not comment when lawmakers, citing reports from the military, told him five Chinese ships had showed up almost 5 km off the Philippine-held Thitu Island in the Spratly archipelago on Saturday.

The military’s public affairs chief, Colonel Edgard Arevalo, declined to comment until the armed forces had the “whole picture on the current situation”.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘CONTRARY TO CONSTITUTION’

Cayetano assured lawmakers on Tuesday any energy deal with China would not violate the constitution and would conform to a 60-40 percent revenue sharing, weighted towards the Philippines.

“We can come up with a commercial deal that is better than Malampaya in the disputed areas,” Cayetano said, referring to an existing natural gas project off Palawan island between the government and Chevron, a resource which is due to be depleted by 2024.

“How can any Filipino argue with that? … It cannot violate the constitution.”

But such an arrangement could be complex and sensitive as both countries claim the oil and gas reserves. Sharing them could be construed as legitimizing the other’s claim, or even ceding sovereignty.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China’s claim over most of the South China Sea in July last year. China has refused to recognize the ruling, which clarified Philippine sovereign rights to energy reserves within its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The Philippine energy department last month said it may resume drilling for oil and gas on the Reed Bank, which is within the Philippine EEZ, before the end of the year, offering new blocks to investors in a bidding in December.

The Philippines suspended exploration in the Reed Bank in late 2014 as it pursued the international arbitration.

Minority lawmakers Gary Alejano and Edcel Lagman opposed the plan for an energy deal saying it would be illegal.

“This is contrary to our constitution because these areas should be exclusively for Filipinos,” Lagman said.

Cayetano declined to give details of the talks and requested an executive session of congress to divulge information about the venture with a Chinese energy company, which he did not identify.

Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of Philippine oil and gas firm PXP Energy Corp, said this month any joint venture would likely be with “a company like CNOOC”, referring to the China National Offshore Oil Corp

Officials from the foreign and energy ministries have said privately any deal would likely be commercial only and both sides would keep the issue of sovereignty out of the equation to avoid complications.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Martin Petty, Robert Birsel)

North Korea holds off on Guam missile plan as China urges ‘brakes’ on rhetoric

North Korea holds off on Guam missile plan as China urges 'brakes' on rhetoric

By Christine Kim and Idrees Ali

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea’s leader has delayed a decision on firing missiles towards Guam while he waits to see what the United States does next, the North’s state media said on Tuesday, as South Korea’s president said Seoul would seek to prevent war by all means.

Signs of an easing in tension on the Korean peninsula helped stock markets rally for a second day running even as the United States and South Korea prepared for more joint military drills, which infuriate the North, and experts warned it could still go ahead with its provocative plan.

In his first public appearance in about two weeks, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the command of the North’s army on Monday, examining a plan to fire four missiles to land near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, the official KCNA said in a report.

“He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important decision as it already declared,” the report said.

The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In photos released with the KCNA report, Kim was seen holding a baton and pointing at a map showing a flight path for the missiles appearing to start from North Korea’s east coast, flying over Japan towards Guam. North Korea has often threatened to attack the United States and its bases and released similar photos in the past but never followed through.

Pyongyang’s plans to fire missiles near Guam prompted a surge in tensions in the region last week, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” if North Korea acted unwisely.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday there would be no military action without Seoul’s consent and his government would prevent war by all means.

“Military action on the Korean peninsula can only be decided by South Korea and no one else can decide to take military action without the consent of South Korea,” Moon said in a speech to commemorate the anniversary of the nation’s liberation from Japanese military rule in 1945.

“The government, putting everything on the line, will block war by all means,” Moon said.

Speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was urgent the United States and North Korea “put the brakes” on mutually irritating words and actions to lower temperatures and prevent an “August crisis”, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

NUCLEAR DETERRENT

Japan will be seeking further reassurance from Washington in meetings between Japan’s defense chief and foreign minister and their U.S. counterparts on Thursday.

“The strategic environment is becoming harsher and we need to discuss how we will respond to that,” a Japanese foreign ministry official said in a briefing in Tokyo.

“We will look for the U.S. to reaffirm it defense commitment, including the nuclear deterrent.”

The Liberation Day holiday, celebrated by both North and South, will be followed next week by the joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.

North Korea has persisted with its nuclear and missile programs, to ward off perceived U.S. hostility, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions.

China, North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, has repeatedly urged Pyongyang to halt its weapons program and at the same time urged South Korea and the United States to stop military drills to lower tensions.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the crisis was approaching a critical juncture and urged all sides in the standoff to help “put out the flames” and not add fuel to the fire.

Hua said she noted comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about using diplomacy to resolve the issue, saying China hoped these words can be put into action.

“We also call on North Korea to echo this in response,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

Asian shares rose for a second day on Tuesday and the dollar firmed after Kim’s comments further eased tension and prompted investors to move back into riskier assets after a sharp selloff last week. [MKTS/GLOB]

Kim Dong-yub, a professor and a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, urged caution in assuming North Korea was bluffing with its missile threats.

“There is no stepping back for North Korea. Those who don’t know the North very well fall into this trap every time (thinking they are easing threats) but we’ve seen this before.”

The United States and South Korea remain technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea is currently holding three U.S. citizens it accuses of espionage or hostile acts but now was not the right time to discuss them, KCNA cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a separate report.

Pyongyang has in the past used detainees to extract concessions, including high-profile visits from the United States, which has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

U.S. officials have in recent days played down the risk of an imminent conflict while stressing their preparedness to respond militarily to any attack from North Korea.

Mattis said on Monday the U.S. military would know the trajectory of a missile fired from North Korea within moments and would “take it out” if it looked like it would hit the U.S. Pacific territory.

“The bottom line is, we will defend the country from an attack; for us (U.S. military) that is war,” Mattis said.

On Guam, home to a U.S. air base, a Navy installation, a Coast Guard group and roughly 6,000 U.S. military personnel, residents expressed some relief at the lessening of tensions.

“I’m reading between the lines that I don’t see an imminent threat,” Guam Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio told a media briefing in the island’s capital of Hagatna.

For an interactive on North Korea’s missile capabilities, click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/010041L63FE/index.html

(Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Jane Chung in Seoul, Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Joseph Campbell in Guam; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)

Iran could quit nuclear deal in ‘hours’ if new U.S. sanctions imposed: Rouhani

Iran could quit nuclear deal in 'hours' if new U.S. sanctions imposed: Rouhani

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the United States imposes any more new sanctions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday.

“If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time — not a week or a month but within hours — to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,” Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television.

Iran says new sanctions that the United States has imposed on it breach the agreement it reached in 2015 with the United States, Russia, China and three European powers in which it agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea passed by the U.S. Congress. The sanctions in that bill also target Iran’s missile programs as well as human rights abuses.

The United States imposed unilateral sanctions after saying Iran’s ballistic missile tests violated a U.N. resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology.

It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity.

Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

“The world has clearly seen that under Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the (nuclear deal), has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord…and that the United States is not a good partner or a reliable negotiator,” Rouhani said.

Trump said last week he did not believe that Iran was living up to the spirit of the nuclear deal.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom, Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Angus MacSwan)