Spanningen op het Koreaanse schiereiland #2

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17:54
North Korea says it regrets its actions and will avoid further provocation, a Blue House spokesman has said, according to Reuters

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The full details of the outcome of the peace talks are yet to appear, but here is what we know so far:

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2015 19:26 schreef Toefjes het volgende:
Naja, was wel even gezellig zo in dit topic de afgelopen dagen. Tot volgend jaar dan maar weer

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After dozens of hours of tense negotiations, exchanges in artillery fire and an awful lot of sabre-rattling, it seems to be over.

South Korean presidential security adviser Kim Kwan-jin made the announcement in a televised briefing early Tuesday, after more than 30 hours of talks with North Korea ended, AP reported.

The talks were the second round of negotiations the rival Koreas began Saturday after events at their heavily guarded border pushed them to the brink of a possible military confrontation.

Kim says the two Koreas have also agreed to hold talks to improve their ties soon in either Seoul or Pyongyang.

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Op maandag 24 augustus 2015 20:09 schreef theNull het volgende:
Nu even afwachten waar die onderzee�rs zullen opduiken.

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US Will Send B-2 Bombers to Guam in Support of South Korea

Is it too soon to tell whether the recent agreement will reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula?



The United States will dispatch three B-2 bombers to Guam amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh, told the Air Force Times on Monday.

“We are in the process right now of deploying three B-2s on a scheduled rotation to Andersen Air Base in Guam. We continue to have airmen stationed on the Korean Peninsula who are there full time who are ready for whatever might happen, and they are ready everyday,” Welsh said.

In 2013, B-2 bombers entered North Korean airspace in a show of force to deter Pyongyang. Such as display appears unlikely this time, as Seoul and Pyongyang have reached an interim agreement to defuse the ongoing crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

“The United State welcomes the agreement reached between the Republic of Korea and the DPRK earlier today. We support President Park’s tireless efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, which support peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a regular briefing yesterday.

In the agreement, Pyongyang offered “regrets” over the August 4 incident, in which two South Korean soldiers were severely injured by a landmine explosion and for which the Kim Jong-un regime has been held responsible by the South. Seoul in turn agreed to turn off loudspeakers that were broadcasting propaganda into the North (See: 7 Comments).

However, a senior defense official told the Washington Free Beacon that it is “too soon to tell” whether the new agreement will succeed in reducing tensions. “On a macro level, [the bombers] are certainly directed at sending a message to North Korea,” he said.

The three B-2 bombers and around 225 airmen from Whiteman Air Force in Missouri already began deploying to the region on August 7, the Air Force announced last week. According to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Makros, the 13th Bomb Squadron commander, the bombers can strike, “at the time and place of leadership’s choosing, any target set on the globe with precision, range, stealth and a massive payload, conventional or nuclear.”

“South Korea and the United States now continue to closely watch the Korean Peninsula’s crisis situation, and are flexibly reviewing the timing of the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets,” South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok recently told reporter, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

“I think there’s a lot of worrisome things about Korea, but I don’t think any of it’s new news,” Welsh told reporters during a news conference. “Certainly they have a missile that can reach Hawaii or U.S. facilities in the Pacific, so that’s what we’re most worried about,” the Air Force Chief of Staff added. “I think it’s something we have to pay a lot of attention to and we do every single day.”

Bron:The Diplomat

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Winners and losers - what the North Korean deal really means

Stephen Haggard takes a forensic look at agreement between Seoul and Pyongyang and considers what it might mean for diplomacy on the peninsula



Another whirl in the now familiar dance between the two Koreas has ended with Pyongyang expressing regrets over the wounding of South Korean soldiers, Seoul agreeing to halt anti-North propaganda broadcasts, and heavy sighs of relief around the world as war talk dies down.

We may have been here many times before, but it’s worth looking more closely at the details of the deal between the two enemies. The full text of the early-morning agreement as released by the North Korean state mouthpiece KCNA is as follows:

1. The North and the South agreed to hold talks between their authorities in Pyongyang or Seoul at an early date to improve north-south ties and to have multi-faceted dialogue and negotiations in the future.

2. The North side expressed regret over the recent mine explosion that occurred in the South side’s area of the Demilitarised Zone along the Military Demarcation Line, wounding soldiers of the southern side.

3. The South side will stop all loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the DMZ from 12pm, 25 August unless an abnormal case occurs.

4. The North side will lift the semi-war state at that time.

5. The North and the South agreed to arrange reunions of separated families and relatives from the North and the South on the occasion of the Harvest Moon Day this year and continue to hold such reunions in the future, and to have a Red Cross working contact for it early in September.

6. The North and the South agreed to vitalise NGO exchanges in various fields.

The circumstances surrounding the talks make it hard to see this as anything but a North Korean stand-down. After setting a 48-hour ultimatum for the South to stop its propaganda broadcasts on Thursday, it was Pyongyang that reached out several hours before the deadline to propose talks (according to Yonhap) after the South made it clear it had no intention of stopping the broadcasts.

The text released by Pyongyang comes about as close to an apology as we are likely to see. As John Everard, former British Ambassador to the North, pointed out, Pyongyang hasn’t issued a statement like this since the 1976 Panmunjom axe murders, when North Korean troops killed two US soldiers.

The components of an apology include an acknowledgement that you committed the act in question, a sense of remorse, and a commitment not to do it again. The first element is arguably missing. It is hard to interpret a statement of remorse if those offering it don’t acknowledge the circumstances in the first place. But when placed in the context of the entire package, the formula of “we didn’t do it and we are not going to do it again” acknowledges that the 4 August land mine incident was the DPRK’s doing.

More importantly, the KCNA version acknowledges that the loudspeakers will only be turned off if the North ceases and desists. Here, translation becomes important. The KCNA version says “unless an abnormal event occurs” but a Korean-speaking colleague Jaesung Ryu suggests that “as long as no further unusual events occur” as more accurate.

To understand why the North has apparently back-tracked, it’s worth looking at the behaviour of the other parties. South Korean president Park Geun-hye made one crucial decision that clarified the balance of forces: she completely ignored the threats being made and had her government state unequivocally that the propaganda broadcasts would continue past Pyongyang’s deadline on Saturday.

We don’t have full information on the artillery exchanges or movement of forces behind the scenes, but perhaps the most interesting factor was an announcement by the South Korean minister of defence on Monday, while talks were ongoing, that his country was consulting the US over the movement of strategic assets.

Military spokesman Kim Min-seok did not specify the hardware in question, but others were happy to oblige by listing some of the possibilities: B-52 and B-2 bombers, F-22 Raptor advanced stealth fighters from US bases in Guam and Japan and a submarine stationed at the US navy base at Yokosuka in central Japan.

These leaks put breathy reporting of North Korean troop movements in a somewhat different perspective. For example, Yonhap reported intelligence that 50 North Korean submarines, an estimated 70% of the fleet, had been sent out to sea. But against the broader backdrop, this is more rightly seen as a defensive rather than offensive move.

However we got here, the larger strategic point is to work out what this means for diplomacy on the peninsula. And it is precisely here that the overall landscape becomes much murkier and North Korea may have actually come out quite well.

One thing to notice is the North’s use of the term Republic of Korea (ROK) last week (reported by Hankyoreh), to refer to the South. Usually the country is referred to as as “South Korea” or simply “the puppets”. But this statement could also be interpreted as a pre-emptive move: to blunt the Park administration’s unification talk by reminding everyone that North Korea does in fact exist. In effect, “you, the ROK, stay there; we, the Kim Dynasty, will stay here”.

And beyond the resolution of the current tensions, South Korea is once again back in its perennial bind. The agreement commits North Korea to surprisingly little, the only item in the agreement with a date, other than turning off the propaganda broadcasts, is about organising reunions for families split by the Korean war. But the commitment to wider talks is highly uncertain. Talks on aid and larger-scale projects in the North will only make sense in the long run if the main issues are on the table, even if indirectly: nuclear weapons, the bloated North Korean military and economic reform.

Which raises the final piece of this puzzle: how China has responded. In addition to its usual statements about “both sides remaining calm”, the site NKNews picked up a remarkable development from the Chinese blogosphere: evidence of large-scale troop movements along the Chinese-North Korean border. Although quickly shut down, according to NKNews the hardware included “PTZ-89 tank destroyers (Type 89), a PGZ-95 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (Type 95 SPAAA) and 155 mm self-propelled guns”.

If China is finally getting serious about North Korea, the best possible outcome of this unfortunate series of events would be not only North-South talks, with their inherent limitations, but to actually restart the now-defunct six-party talks (between North and South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia) aimed at ending the North’s nuclear programme.

Bron: The Guardian

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North Korea Yongbyon nuclear site 'in operation'



North Korea says its main nuclear facility, the Yongbyon complex, has resumed normal operations.
The country was improving its nuclear weapons "in quality and quantity", state-run news agency KCNA reported.

Yongbyon's reactor was shut down in 2007 but Pyongyang vowed to restart it in 2013, following its third nuclear test and amid high regional tensions.

The reactor has been the source of plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
Experts believe that if re-started, the reactor could potentially make one bomb's worth of plutonium per year.

The announcement about Yongbyon is the first official confirmation from North Korea that it has restarted operations there.

A US think-tank said earlier this year that satellite images suggested that work had commenced at the plant.

North Korea holds a big celebration in just under a month - the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its Workers Party. It is building up to that with two significant announcements.

There is the revelation that the country's main nuclear reactor, which could be used for producing material for atomic weapons, is operating again. But North Korea also says it is ready to launch a rocket with a satellite. Other countries fear this is code for testing the kind of long-range missile that could potentially reach the United States with a nuclear warhead.

This does not mean that North Korea has the ability to do that but it does indicate that there is no let-up in its nuclear ambitions, and that it is intent on making progress towards a viable long-range nuclear missile.

Rocket launch plans
KCNA also said on Tuesday that the North was ready to face US hostility with "nuclear weapons any time".

However, the full scope of North Korea's nuclear capabilities is unclear.
Pyongyang claims it has made a device small enough to fit a nuclear warhead on to a missile, which it could launch at its enemies.

However, US officials have cast doubt on this claim and experts say it is difficult to assess the progress North Korea has made on miniaturisation.



North Korea has made threats against its neighbours and the US before, often to coincide with annual joint military exercises held by South Korea and US forces.

The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

China, which is North Korea's main ally and trading partner, said on Tuesday that it hoped "relevant parties" would respond with "caution and refrain from taking actions that may elevate tension".

Yongbyon nuclear complex
+ North Korea's main nuclear facility, believed to have manufactured material for previous nuclear tests

+ Reactor shut down in July 2007 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal

+ International inspectors banned in April 2009 when North Korea pulled out of disarmament talks

+ A uranium enrichment facility was revealed in 2010. An American nuclear scientist said centrifuges appeared to be primarily for civilian nuclear power, but could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel

+ Reactor restarted in 2013, the same year North Korea conducted a nuclear test. Became dormant in August 2014

+ Experts believe that reactor could make one bomb's worth of plutonium per year
Nuclear test based on uranium device would be harder to monitor than plutonium

Bron: BBC

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N Korea ruling party marks 70th anniversary with parade
_{With no world leaders in attendance, North Korea marks one of its biggest celebrations with show of military hardware.}



A major military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party has been held in the capital, Pyongyang.

The country's Korean Central TV showed thousands of marching soldiers in tight formations into Kim Il-Sung square on Saturday, followed by columns of tanks, armoured vehicles and ballistic missiles.

"Our party dauntlessly declares that our revolutionary armed forces are capable of fighting any kind of war provoked by the US and we are ready to protect our people and the blue sky of our motherland," the third-generation North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said.

His words were met with rapturous applause from tens of thousands of flag-waving spectators, while above the square, a large banner slung from a gas-filled balloon read: "Long live the invincible Workers' Party of Korea."

No world leaders were attending, but China sent a senior Communist Party official.

The normally isolated and quiet North Korean capital has been flooded by tourists, international media and delegations ranging from ethnic Koreans living abroad to Russian and Mongolian groups dedicated to studying North Korea's political ideas.

As the clock struck midnight on Friday, Kim Jong-un marked the anniversary by paying respect to both his late father and grandfather at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA.

Masses of Pyongyang citizens have for weeks been out in public plazas across the city practising their roles for a torchlight parade in the evening.

For the finale, a stage has been set up on a river running through central Pyongyang for a late-night concert featuring North Korea's most popular musical group, the all-female Moranbong Band. Tickets for foreigners hoping to attend the concert were going for about $114.

The spectacle promises to be the most elaborate since Kim assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, and the satellite imagery suggests the military parade could be the country's biggest ever.

Bron: http://www.aljazeera.com/(...)151010061455956.html

North Korea marks anniversary of ruling party with military parade

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Op zaterdag 10 oktober 2015 21:48 schreef Augustus_Thijs het volgende:

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Zouden ze dit jaar niet ook hun nieuwste raketten laten zien?
Is dat ook gebeurd?

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An expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, a security think tank in Seoul, Jin Moo Kim, said North Korea revealed a new 300-millimeter rocket launcher. It also displayed drones and a KN-08 ballistic missile, with an estimated range of 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), that the country had previously shown off in 2012.

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Op zondag 11 oktober 2015 08:50 schreef vipergts het volgende:

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Je weer wat ze zeggen de eerste generatie sticht het de tweede bouwt het uit en de derde verziekt het.
Kim jong il straalde toch meer dat dictatorachtige uit. Van hem heb je echt een prachtig filmpje met personal jezus van marilyn manson eronder. Hij loopt dan voor een gigantische tribune langs waar mensen lachen en klappen voor hem. Hij knipt nog net niet met zijn vingers om mensen tegen de muur te laten zetten omdat ze niet hard genoeg klappen.
Kim jong un is de onaangepaste om die uitgenodigd wordt omdat het niet anders kan

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S. Korea warns North will 'pay the price' for alleged H-bomb test



South Korea’s military has increased its monitoring of North Korea after the state claimed a successful test of a miniaturized hydrogen device. The fourth nuclear test by Pyongyang was condemned by leading nations.

Seoul has denounced the alleged hydrogen bomb test as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, claiming that it will seek to cooperate with regional partners and make North Korea pay a price for its provocation.



"North Korea's provocation is in clear violation of Security Council resolutions and a serious challenge to international peace and security," Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said during an emergency meeting of ministry officials, according to Yonhap.

President Park Geun-hye chaired an emergency National Security Council session. In remarks published on her website the president said the country will take decisive measures against any additional provocations by North Korea and work with the international community to make sure Pyongyang pays the price for its latest test.

The Bank of Korea has convened an emergency meeting of its monetary policy board.

In a “special and important” announcement at noon, North Korean TV claimed that the country had successfully detonated a miniature hydrogen bomb, marking the country’s fourth known nuclear test. The announcement followed the detection of an “artificial seismic event” in the vicinity of a known Pyongyang nuclear site.

Mastering a hydrogen nuclear device would be a major breakthrough for North Korea. The technology allows scaling up the yield of a nuclear device with few limitations.

The claimed miniaturization of a nuclear device may mean that North Korea could soon develop a nuclear warhead for its larger ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has already claimed it can deliver nuclear strikes on the US mainland, but military experts doubt they have such a capability.

[YTN 실시간뉴스] 북한 4차 핵실험 발표..."수소폭탄 실험 성공" / YTN

Nations throughout the world rallied to criticize North Korea for the apparent escalation of its nuclear weapons program.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the reported nuclear test by North Korea could cause an escalation of tension in the Korean Peninsula and called for restraint. It added that analysis of data pertaining to the alleged test was still in progress.

The White House said the US will continue to "protect and defend our allies in the region," and will "respond appropriately to any and all North Korean provocations." It stressed that it can't confirm that the device detonated was actually a hydrogen bomb, as claimed by Pyongyang.

China will work with the international community to further the cause of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing. She added Beijing had no advanced knowledge of the planned test and firmly opposed North Korea's move.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the developments, making it clear that Tokyo will “absolutely” not tolerate threats against its national security and would issue a firm response to North Korea's challenge against nuclear non-proliferation.

India voiced deep concern over the developments, saying it would negatively affect stability in the region.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said North Korea's move is a "provocation which I condemn without reservation" and a "grave breach" of UN Security Council resolutions. The top British diplomat is currently in Beijing on a two-day trip. He noted that no confirmation of a nuclear test was immediately available.

France said the reported hydrogen bomb test was "an unacceptable violation of Security Council resolutions" and called for a "strong reaction from the international community" in a statement released by President Francois Hollande's office.

Australia condemned the test “in the strongest possible terms,” saying the move was “provocative and dangerous,” the country's department of foreign affairs said in a statement published on its website.

The UN Security Council is to address the possible nuclear test on Wednesday, at 4:00pm GMT, at a request from the US and Japan.

https://www.rt.com/news/328049-north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test/

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Op woensdag 6 januari 2016 13:32 schreef HexHunter het volgende:

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Het zal best nog wel een boosted fission bomb kunnen zijn maar omdat het indrukwekkender klinkt noemen ze het een H-bom. Zou me totaal niet verbazen.

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Op woensdag 6 januari 2016 13:41 schreef Infection het volgende:
Ach, als Noord Korea zo'n bom daadwerkelijk tegen een land zou gebruiken zou dat het graven van hun eigen graf zijn. Die zijn binnen een mum van tijd van de aardbodem geveegd door omringende landen.

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Koenders: kernproef gevaarlijk provocatie

De kernproef van Noord-Korea is "volstrekt onverantwoord" en de "zoveelste gevaarlijke provocatie". Dat stelt minister Bert Koenders van Buitenlandse Zaken woensdag in een reactie. Het bewind in Pyongyang raakt volgens hem door deze proef internationaal nog verder ge�soleerd.

De nucleaire test is in het buitenland scherp veroordeeld. Koenders vindt dat de VN-Veiligheidsraad zich "krachtig" moet uitspreken over deze "flagrante schending" van resoluties van de Veiligheidsraad. Volgens Noord-Korea ging het om een ondergrondse test met een waterstofbom.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/b(...)jk_provocatie__.html

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Op woensdag 6 januari 2016 14:14 schreef gijsman het volgende:
Kim wil even laten weten dat hij er ook nog is.. is jaarlijks zo.
Over een paar weken horen we nauwelijks iets meer tot volgend jaar.

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VS laten bommenwerper over Zuid-Korea vliegen



Een Amerikaanse B-52-bommenwerper heeft zondag laag over Zuid-Korea gevlogen. De vlucht was een "reactie op recente provocatieve acties van Noord-Korea", liet het Amerikaanse leger weten. Daarmee wordt vermoedelijk verwezen naar de kernproef die het stalinistische land uitvoerde.

De bommenwerper, die in staat is kernwapens af te werpen, vertrok van het eiland Guam en vloog onder meer over de luchtmachtbasis in Osan. De basis is zo'n 100 kilometer verwijderd van de grens met Noord-Korea, dat woensdag verklaarde een succesvolle ondergrondse atoomproef te hebben uitgevoerd met een waterstofbom. Experts betwijfelen of dat klopt.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/b(...)_over_Z-Korea__.html

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Seoul Fires Warning Shots At 'North Korea Drone'

South Korea says the "enemy's unidentified object invaded" its territory and warns it is "closely" watching Pyongyang's military.



South Korean soldiers have fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone after it was seen to cross the border.

The "unidentified flying object" entered South Korean territory by some "tens of metres", military officials said.

It was spotted around 29 miles north of Seoul, near South Korea's Mount Dora Observation Post.


_{South Korea's Park Geun-hye urges China to back sanctions against Pyongyang}

South Korean forces reportedly fired about 20 machine gun rounds at it and the object immediately returned north of the border.

Jeon Ha-kyu, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, said: "The enemy's unidentified object invaded the military demarcation line in the western front line area.

"After a warning broadcast, our military fired a warning shot, and the unidentified object immediately went back to the North."

North Korean military propaganda leaflets had been found in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, he said.

"It was identified that the leaflets were scattered from the North side yesterday afternoon and early this morning, and our military is closely watching the movements of the North Korean military," he added.

The leaflets reportedly described South Korea's President Park Geun-hye and her government as "mad dogs".

Wednesday's incident comes amid increased tensions between the rival nations after North Korea claimed it had carried out its fourth nuclear test last Wednesday, angering Western powers and alarming the country's neighbours.

Earlier, Ms Park urged China - Pyongyang's only major ally - to take a tougher line with North Korea and back severe international sanctions in response to the test, which she described an "unacceptable challenge" to global security.

"I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role," she told a televised news conference.

"I believe China is aware that if its strong determination is not put into actual, necessary actions, we will not be able to prevent a fifth or sixth nuclear test."

She said her country would continue its loudspeaker campaign of blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda along the border which had prompted North Korean soldiers to defect to South Korea.

"The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth," she said.

Kim Jong-Un, the leader of the secretive communist state, hailed the test a "success" and said it was designed to protect the region "from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists", according to the country's news agency.

However, most countries, including the US, seriously doubt its claims that it exploded a hydrogen bomb.

http://news.sky.com/story(...)at-north-korea-drone