North Korean leader in Russia for talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194860.html

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has arrived in Russia to hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on various issues.

The North Korean leader will spend about a week in Russia to discuss energy cooperation, de-nuclearization and tensions with South Korea with Medvedev, AFP reported on Saturday.

A North Korean government source added that Kim will meet and confer with Medvedev in Ulan-Ude near Lake Baikal in Siberia on Tuesday.

This is Kim's first visit to Russia after about a decade since his previous public trip in 2002.

On Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said that 50,000 tons of grain will be sent to North Korea by the end of September.

Kim has already visited China three times seeking ways to alleviate the effect of devastating floods as well as the US-led economic sanctions on his country.

North Korea has called for the unconditional resumption of six-party talks involving China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, North Korea and the United States over nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula.

Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula since November 2010 when an exchange of artillery fire left four South Koreans dead on a border island.

The North accuses US President Barack Obama of plotting with regional allies to topple the country's government, insisting that its nuclear program is a deterrent against US forces in the region.

US, South Korea begin joint military drills

South Korea and the United States on Monday morning kicked of their annual joint military drills amid continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167427.html

The US and South Korean militaries have launched their major military drills despite North Korea's warnings that the exercises could lead to an "all-out war.”

The 11-day Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drills are the first regularly scheduled joint drills between Seoul and Washington since a North Korean artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island on November 23, which left two South Korean marines and two civilians dead.

Pyongyang has denounced the drills as a provocative move and a pretext to invade North Korea, while the US and South Korean officials say the exercise is defensive in nature, AFP reported.

The exercises focus on raising the allies' ability to defend against small, sudden attacks by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said the Combined Forces Command, adding that the drills are aimed at strengthening the allies' readiness against all potential threats.

However, the North's military on Sunday threatened to retaliate against the drills with a full-scale military attack that would turn Seoul into a "sea of fire.”

"If the aggressors launch provocation for a 'local war', the world will witness unprecedented all-out counteraction on the part of the army and people of the DPRK (North Korea)," the North Korean military said.

"It will also see such merciless counteraction as engulfing Seoul in sea of flames, whereby to smash every move for confrontation with unimaginable strategy and tactics."

A total of 12,300 US troops and some 200,000 service members, including reservists from South Korea, will participate in the joint military drills, according to officials.

In 2010, tension on the Korean Peninsula reached its highest level since the 1950s' Korean War.

On March 2, the 1,200-ton South Korean warship, Cheonan, sank near the inter-Korea maritime border, resulting in the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors.

Though Seoul accuses Pyongyang of involvement in the sinking of its warship, the latter rejects the claim.

North, South Korea agree to hold talks

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162346.html

North and South Koreans are meeting "to seek ways to move forward together as a people while overcoming the grave situation which has divided them."

A group called the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland sought dialogue between Pyongyang and Seoul, influencing North Korea to make the first contact with its southern neighbor.

South Koreans have accepted the invitation and are expected to meet their Northern counterparts on February 11th.

The initial meeting is designed to set the time and agenda for high-level military dialogue between the two Asian countries.

Tensions between the North and South escalated when on November 23rd a South Korean island was bombed, killing four people, including two civilians.

Last March, Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a warship, killing 46 people on board, a charge which the North denies.

South Korea set a precondition for any high-level meeting in that North Korea would need to take “responsible measures” over last year's attack and vow not to repeat them.

US and Japan have expressed their interest in the talks with hopes of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, and later broadening multi-nation dialogue toward economic prosperity in the region.

“We've always stressed the importance of North-South dialogue as the necessary beginning of this process. So, I hope that the North takes advantage of this opportunity and demonstrates its sincerity," US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said.

Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara also pointed out that it is vital for the Seoul and Pyongyang to enter the dialogue.

"I believe that what is most important is that the North-South dialogue be opened up and also that in the tri-partite foreign ministers' meeting with regard to the 6-party talks and that the Chinese have been calling for, we would not reject that,” Maehara said.

Seoul rejects Pyongyang's talks offer

South Korea warns of a strong response to any form of military aggression from the North

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158865.html


South Korea has rejected a North Korean call for unconditional talks to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, saying the offer was "propaganda."

"North Korea previously issued statements like this early in the year ... they are normally done as part of (a) propaganda campaign towards the South," a Unification Ministry official willing not to be identified said Thursday, Reuters reported.

Pyongyang's offer for talks was considered an empty gesture. "We do not consider this as a serious proposal for dialogue. It is not even in the correct and appropriate format," the informed official added.

Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea announced that it was ready for an "unconditional and early opening of talks" with the South amid high tension on the peninsula.

The North's call for talks comes after the United States met Chinese and South Korean officials for talks about how to calm the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions have been high between the two Koreas since a deadly artillery exchange on an island last November.

Pyongyang said it shelled the area as a result of provocations by Seoul. South demands an apology after North Korea's deadly shelling of the island.

The crisis further deepened over rounds of joint military drills South Korea held with the United States despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration scrambles to respond to criticism that it was unprepared for the November 23 North Korean artillery attack.

Seoul warns of North's serious threat

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157827.html


Seoul's Defense Ministry says North Korea has boosted its special forces and deployed huge artillery guns and a new kind of tank close to the heavily fortified border.

“Threats from North Korea's asymmetric warfare capabilities - such as special forces, artillery pieces and weapons of mass destruction - have been on a steady rise since 2008,” South Korea's Deputy Defense Minister Chang Kwang Il was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The biennial report by the ministry signals that the North's military threat has expanded as it has an unspecified number of new powerful tanks prowling the border with the South.

Nearly 13,600 long-range artillery guns have been deployed along the Demilitarized Zone and are reportedly ready to launch attacks on Seoul, the report noted.

With a population of more than 10 million, Seoul is 30 kilometers away from the border.

According to the report, the North has also added 20,000 soldiers to its 18,000 special forces over the past two years.

Seoul claims the contingent of 200,000 special forces are trained to infiltrate into the South to carry out assassinations and disrupt sensitive facilities.

The report further added that the North intends to rely on its nuclear program as a counterweight to South Korea's high-tech military.

The news comes at a time tension is high between the two neighbors following an artillery fire exchange which left four Southerners dead last month.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's administration scrambles to respond to criticism that it was unprepared for a November 23 North Korean artillery attack

South Korea urges talks to disarm North Korea

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (C)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157704.html


South Korea has adopted a softer tone on North Korea's nuclear issue, calling for a revival of international talks with Pyongyang to shut down its nuclear program.

"(We) have no choice but to resolve the problem of dismantling North Korea's nuclear program diplomatically through the six-party talks," South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said as he received a 2011 policy report from the foreign ministry on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula after a November 23 artillery fire exchange which left four South Koreans, including two civilians, dead. The incident turned many heads as it became the first shelling of a civilian area in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The crisis further deepened over rounds of joint military drills South Korea held with the United States despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

While the North backed down on its threats in a change of tone, Russia and China are making efforts to resume talks with the North to further ease high tensions.

A US diplomat who visited Pyongyang this month said the North had agreed with the return of UN nuclear inspectors and to dispose of fuel rods outside the country.

Lee on Wednesday said the international community is pressed for time to denuclearize the North, which has set the 100th anniversary of founder Kim Il-Sung's birth in 2012 as the year to become a "great, powerful and prosperous" nation.

Therefore, we "should certainly achieve the dismantlement of its nuclear program next year," he insisted.

The North shut down its elderly plutonium-producing reactor in 2007 under a disarmament deal reached in six-party talks which involved the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the US. The talks failed in April 2009 following new inter-Korean tensions.

In October, Pyongyang unveiled a uranium enrichment plant which US officials claimed could easily be converted to produce weapons-grade uranium. But North Korea says its new plant is solely aimed at fueling a light-water reactor being built to produce energy.