Noord-Korea dreigt Zuid-Korea met oorlog...

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Beelden van raket vrijgegeven

Tv-stations in Noord- en Zuid-Korea hebben dinsdag beelden getoond van de lancering van de raket die zondag door Noord-Korea werd uitgevoerd. Kijkers zagen een witte drietrapsraket met het woord Chosun (Korea) wegvliegen vanaf het lanceerplatform, zo meldde het Zuid-Koreaanse persbureau Yonhap.

De beelden waren eerst te zien op de staatstelevisie in Noord-Korea. Kort daarna werd dezelfde video ook getoond op de Zuid-Koreaanse televisie.

Een Amerikaans onderzoeksinstituut gaf eveneens dinsdag de vermoedelijk eerste satellietfoto's van de raketlancering vrij. Hierop is onder meer een door de raket uitgestoten pluim te zien. De door het Institute for Science and International Security in Washington vrijgegeven foto's zijn genomen op enkele kilometers afstand van de lanceerplaats Musudan-ri aan de noordoostkust van Noord-Korea.

Staatsmedia in het geïsoleerde communistische Noord-Korea meldden zondag vol trots dat een satelliet met succes in de ruimte was gebracht. De ,,experimentele communicatiesatelliet'' zou rond de aarde cirkelen en ,,revolutionaire liederen'' uitzenden. Maar volgens Westerse landen wilde Noord-Korea in werkelijkheid alleen een langeafstandsraket testen.

Of de lancering een succes was, zoals Noord-Korea beweert, is niet duidelijk. Volgens Zuid-Korea en de Amerikaanse strijdkrachten is de raket, met satelliet en al, in de Stille Oceaan gestort.

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China:"NK has right on peaceful space program"

Russia and China have called for a restrained world response to North Korea's controversial rocket launch.

Moscow said it was a cause for concern, but urged against "hasty conclusions", while China said Pyongyang had the right to a peaceful space programme.

Divisions at the UN Security Council are hampering talks over Sunday's test.

Pyongyang says the test was a success, putting a satellite into orbit which is now transmitting data and revolutionary songs. The US says the attempt failed.

American military sources say the rocket failed to fire its later stages and fell into the Pacific.

But analysts say the test was still partially successful and should increase North Korea's bargaining power at the negotiating table.

Sanctions threat

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, France, Russia, UK and China - met together with Japan in New York on Monday without coming to an agreement.

A further meeting is set for Tuesday, but correspondents say it may take days to reach a deal.

Washington and Tokyo are seeking a strong response, but Beijing and Moscow have called for "restraint" - although it is unclear exactly what this means. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by state media as saying that while the situation was "of major concern", Moscow wanted to look into it in more detail.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said this issue involved "a country's right to peaceful use of space".

"We believe the Security Council should respond in a prudent way," he said.

Earlier US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said North Korea's launch had "grave implications", and she called for the UN to adopt a "strong position" in response.

"North Korea ignored its international obligations, rejected the unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations."

The US, South Korea and Japan say the launch violates a UN Security Council resolution adopted in October 2006 which bans North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile activity

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Op donderdag 2 april 2009 23:10 schreef Northside het volgende:

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Een beetje satelliet kijkt tegenwoordig met infra-rood ook door de wolken en kan ook de grassprieten op de grond tellen. Denk google earth, maar dan 120 keer beter.

Dus vraag ik me nog steeds af waarom de Amerikanen vliegtuigen nodig zouden hebben.

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Noord-Korea dreigt VN met harde maatregelen

Noord-Korea neemt harde maatregelen als de Verenigde Naties sancties instellen vanwege de Noord-Koreaanse raketlancering op zondag. Dat heeft een Noord-Koreaanse diplomaat gisteren gezegd.

"Als de Veiligheidsraad ook maar een stap onderneemt zien we dit als een inbreuk op onze soevereiniteit en is de beurt aan ons", aldus de Noord-Koreaanse VN-afgevaardigde Pak Tok Hun tegen verslaggevers in New York. Er zullen volgens de diplomaat "noodzakelijke en harde maatregelen" genomen worden.

De VN-Veiligheidsraad kwam zondagavond in spoedzitting bijeen na de Noord-Koreaanse raketlancering. Er werd echter geen beslissing genomen. De Verenigde Staten en Japan hadden opgeroepen tot een "krachtig gemeenschappelijk optreden" tegen Noord-Korea, maar Rusland en China, twee permanente leden van de Veiligheidsraad, gingen daar niet in mee.

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Op woensdag 8 april 2009 07:49 schreef Magpie het volgende:

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Noord-Korea: Zuid-Koreanen probeerden onze voetballers te vergiftigen

Voorafgaand aan de WK-kwalificatiewedstrijd op 1 april zijn drie Noord-Koreaanse voetbalspelers ziek geworden door het slechte eten in gastland Zuid-Korea. Dat beweert de coach van het nationale elftal. Seoel ontkent.

Kim Jong Hun, coach van het Noord-Koreaanse voetbalelftal, heeft zijn beschuldiging deze week geuit nadat zijn team woensdag 1 april van Zuid-Korea had verloren.

Het betrof een belangrijke kwalificatiewedstrijd voor het WK Voetbal in Zuid-Afrika.

Braken
De spelers zouden in de nacht voor de wedstrijd nauwelijks aan slapen zijn toegekomen door diarree, hoofdpijn en braken.

Een gevolg van het slechte eten dat het nationale elftal in Seoel kreeg voorgeschoteld, aldus coach Kim.

Politieke spanning
De kwalificatiewedstrijd had plaats op een moment waarop de politieke spanning tussen beide landen weer flink was toegenomen.

In een officiële verklaring zei de voetbalbond van Noord-Korea: 'Het was duidelijk dat er opzettelijk is gerommeld met het eten omdat een aantal spelers na de maaltijd opeens niet meer kon opstaan.'

Neutraal terrein
Voetbalcoach Kim heeft de FIFA nog gevraagd de wedstrijd uit te stellen en vervolgens te laten spelen op neutraal terrein.

De internationale voetbalbond weigerde op het verzoek in te gaan.

Sportarts
De Zuid-Koreaanse voetbalbond ontkent alle beschuldigingen.

Volgens de bond heeft een sportarts de verzwakte voetbalspelers onderzocht en geen ernstige gezondheidsproblemen gevonden.

Noord-Korea heeft inmiddels een klacht ingediend bij de FIFA.

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Japan strengthens sanctions against NK
TOKYO — Japan renewed and strengthened sanctions against North Korea as Tokyo struggles to punish the communist country for its recent rocket launch, officials said Friday.

North Korea says Sunday's launch was to send a satellite into orbit, but Japan and allies call it a cover for a missile test.

Japan's Cabinet reauthorized and ramped up economic sanctions imposed on the isolated country since a 2006 missile test, by lowering the cap on remittances that must be reported and reducing the amount of money visitors can carry into the North, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura announced.

The old sanctions, which must be renewed every six months, expire on Monday. The latest renewal is good for one year.

"North Korea forced a missile firing, the act that our country finds intolerable," Kawamura told a news conference. "The additional steps are aimed at monitoring the money flow into the North more closely."

The new measures will reduce the amount of remittances to North Korea subject to reporting to the Japanese government to $100,000 from $300,000 and slash the amount of money that travelers can bring into the North by more than one-third to $3,000.

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Op dinsdag 14 april 2009 13:20 schreef JoeThePlumber het volgende:

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bron: nu.nl

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North Korea reactivates all nuclair programms

Pyongyang, NORTH KOREA (BNO NEWS) -- Following is a statement to the media by IAEA Spokesperson Marc Vidricaire on the situation in the DPRK:

"The Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has today informed IAEA inspectors in the Yongbyon facility that it is immediately ceasing all cooperation with the IAEA. It has requested the removal of all containment and surveillance equipment, following which, IAEA inspectors will no longer be provided access to the facility. The inspectors have also been asked to leave the DPRK at the earliest possible time.

The DPRK also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel."

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White House Calls on North Korea to End 'Provocative Threats'

North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that North Korea ordered the immediate expulsion of its inspectors and told the U.N. nuclear watchdog it was reactivating all of its nuclear facilities.

North Korea told inspectors to remove seals and cameras from its Yongbyon nuclear site and leave the country as quickly as possible, an IAEA statement said.

Pyongyang informed the IAEA it was "immediately ceasing all cooperation," the statement said.

"The (North) also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel," it said.

The vow to restart its nuclear reactor and boycott international disarmament talks was a serious step in the wrong direction, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

North Korea must "cease its provocative threats" and respect the will of the international community, which won't accept the communist country unless it abandons what the White House calls its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Gibbs said.

Russia, voicing regret over the move, urged Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table. Its Foreign Ministry called the U.N. statement "legitimate and well-balanced," and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said all sides must stick to the disarmament process. China, North Korea's main ally, appealed for calm.

All 15 members of the Security Council, including Beijing and Moscow, agreed to condemn the April 5 missile launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and to tighten sanctions against the regime. The U.N. statement was weaker than the resolution Japan and the United States had pursued.

North Korea claims it sent a communications satellite into space as part of a peaceful bid to develop its space program. The U.S. and others call the launch an illicit test of the technology used to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, even one eventually destined for the U.S.

A Security Council resolution passed in 2006, days after North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test, prohibits Pyongyang from engaging in any ballistic missile-related activity -- including launching rockets that use the same delivery technology as missiles mounted with warheads, Washington and other nations say.

President Barack Obama called the U.N. statement, which also called for quick resumption of disarmament talks, a "clear and united message" that North Korea's action was unlawful and would result in real consequences, Gibbs said.

And More...

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Op woensdag 15 april 2009 11:03 schreef Tokamak het volgende:
Maar was het nou een satelliet of een langeafstandsraket?

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NK has become full nucleair power



The world’s intelligence agencies and defense experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea, the Times of London reported.

The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts — from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the U.S. Defense Secretary — are admitting that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.

This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear attack capability and seriously alters the balance of power between North Korea’s large but poorly equipped military and the South Korean and U.S. forces ranged against it. “North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact,” the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said this week. “I don’t like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state we have to face reality.”

North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006 but until recently foreign governments believed that such nuclear devices were useless as weapons because they were too unwieldy to be mounted on a missile.

With 13,000 artillery pieces buried close to the border between the two Koreas, and chemical and biological warheads, it was always understood that the North could inflict significant conventional damage on Seoul, the South Korean capital. Military planners had calculated, however, that it could not strike outside the peninsula.

Now North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has the potential to kill millions in Japan as well as the South, and to lay waste U.S. bases and airfields in both countries. It will force military strategists to rethink plans for war in Korea and significantly increase the potential costs of any intervention in a future Korean war. The shift from acknowledging North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program to recognizing it as a fully fledged nuclear power is highly controversial. South Korea, in particular, resists the reclassification because it could give the North greater leverage in negotiations.

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Op zaterdag 30 mei 2009 08:53 schreef MoltiSanti het volgende:
Noord-Korea voert 2e nucleaire test uit en schiet raketten af