North Korea sparks crisis over workers from South
PAJU, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea on Wednesday stirred up fresh unease in Northeast Asia, blocking hundreds of South Koreans from entering a joint industrial complex that serves as an important symbol of cooperation between the two countries.The move comes a day after Pyongyang announced plans to restart a nuclear reactor it shut down five years ago and follows weeks of bombastic threats against the United States and South Korea from the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, and his government.The fiery North Korean rhetoric, fueled by recent U.N. sanctions over its latest nuclear test, has created a tense atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula just as the United States and South Korea are engaged in joint military exercises in South Korean territory.Pyongyang's threat last month of a possible pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States and South Korea caused particular alarm, despite heavy skepticism from analysts and U.S. officials that the North Korean military is anywhere near capable of carrying out such an attack.The United States has in turn made a show of its military strength in the annual drills, flying B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear weapons, Cold War-era B-52s and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over South Korea.North Korea's decision Wednesday to prevent South Korean workers and managers from entering the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which sits on the North's side of the border but houses operations of scores of South Korean companies, is a tangible sign of the tensions between the two sides.It's also a move that could end up hurting Pyongyang financially, since Kaesong is considered to be an important source of hard currency for Kim's regime.More than 50,000 North Koreans work in the zone, producing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods each year.
U.S. moves warship, sea-based radar to watch North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy is moving a warship and a sea-based radar platform closer to the North Korean coast in order to monitor that country's military moves, including possible new missile launches, a Defense Department official said Monday.The decision to move at least one ship, the destroyer USS John S.
South Korea warns North of 'strong response' to any attack
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- The South Korean president on Monday warned North Korea that any provocative moves will be met with "a strong response" as the United States deployed stealth fighter jets in the tense region as part of joint military exercises."If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," President Park Geun-hye said at a meeting with senior defense and security officials, according to her office.Her comments came after North Korea rattled off fresh volleys of bombastic rhetoric over the weekend, declaring that it had entered a "state of war" with the South and labeling the U.S. mainland a "boiled pumpkin," vulnerable to attack.The two Koreas are technically still at war after their conflict in the early 1950s ended in a truce not a peace treaty.The secretive regime of Kim Jong Un has delivered a steady stream of verbal attacks against South Korea and the United States in recent weeks, including the threat of a nuclear strike.It has lashed out at the U.S.-South Korean military drills currently under way and at the tougher U.N. sanctions that were slapped on it after its latest nuclear test in February.Analysts have expressed heavy skepticism that the North has the military capabilities to follow through on many of its melodramatic threats.But concerns remain that it could carry out a localized attack on South Korea, as it did in November 2010 when it shelled Yeongpyeong Island, killing four people.Displays of strengthThe United States has sought to show its willingness to defend its South Korean ally by drawing attention to displays of its military strength during the drills taking place in South Korea.Washington's recent announcements concerning practice flights over South Korea by B-52 bombers and B-2 stealth bombers, both of which can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, have not been lost on Pyongyang, which has described them as acts of U.S. hostility.There was no immediate reaction on North Korean state media Monday to the U.S. statement saying the stealth fighters, F-22 Raptors, were sent to the main U.S. Air Force Base in South Korea to support air drills in the annual Foal Eagle training exercises there.U.S. and South Korean officials have been trying to strike a balance between acknowledging that the North's rhetoric is cause for concern and at the same time playing down the severity of the threat.Park said Monday that she was "viewing the threat from North Korea in a serious manner."But a senior U.S. Defense Department official said late last week that there were "no indications at this point that it's anything more than warmongering rhetoric."South Korea has noted that scores of its workers have continued in recent days to enter and leave the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint economic cooperation zone between the two Koreas situated on the North's side of the border.That is despite Pyongyang cutting a key military hotline on the border and threatening to shut down the complex.Moscow and Beijing call for calmThe heightened tensions have prompted North Korea's traditional allies, China and Russia, to urge the different sides to keep a lid on the situation."Moscow expects all parties to exercise as much responsibility and restraint as possible in light of North Korea's latest statements," the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday according to Russian state broadcaster Russia Today.China, which expressed frustration over Pyongyang's most recent nuclear test, also called for calm."We hope relevant parties can work together to turn around the tense situation in the region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday, describing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as "a joint responsibility."But the coming weeks appear laced with potential for more bouts of saber-rattling.North Korean delegates are currently gathered in Pyongyang for the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's rubber stamp parliament.And April 15 is the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder and the grandfather of Kim Jong Un.
U.S. defense officials: North Korean threats are "bellicose rhetoric"
(CNN) -- North Korea's threatening rhetoric has reached a fevered pitch, but the Pentagon and the South Korean government have said it's nothing new."We have no indications at this point that it's anything more than warmongering rhetoric," a senior Washington defense official said late Friday.The official was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.The National Security Council, which advises the U.S. president on matters of war, struck a similar cord.
North Korea readying rockets to aim at U.S. targets
(CNN) -- North Korea's leader has signed off on a plan to prepare rockets to be on standby for firing at U.S. targets, including the U.S. mainland and military bases in the Pacific and in South Korea, state media reported.In a meeting with military leaders early Friday, Kim Jung Un "said he has judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation," the state-run KCNA news agency reported."If they make a reckless provocation with huge strategic forces, the KPA should mercilessly strike the U.S. mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea, he said," KCNA said.The U.S. decision to fly B-2 spirit bombers over South Korea in military exercises was "an ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost on the Korean Peninsula," the North Korean state news agency said.
North Korea says it is cutting off a military hotline with the South
YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea said Wednesday it was cutting off a key military hotline with South Korea amid high tensions between the two sides."Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep north-south military communications," the head of a North Korean delegation told the South by telephone Wednesday, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.The North linked the move to annual joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States, which it has cited in a string of threats against the two countries in recent weeks.
North Korea issues new threat to U.S. bases
(CNN) -- North Korea on Tuesday served up its latest round of threats against the United States, saying it plans to place military units tasked with targeting U.S. bases under combat ready status.The Supreme Command of the North Korean military said it "will put on the highest alert all the field artillery units including strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units, which are assigned to strike bases of the U.S. imperialist aggressor troops in the U.S. mainland and on Hawaii and Guam and other operational zone in the Pacific, as well as all the enemy targets in South Korea and its vicinity."Angered by tougher U.N. sanctions and joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea, Pyongyang has issued a range of bombastic threats in recent weeks.The announcement this month by the United States that its B-52 bombers were making flights over South Korea as part of the military exercises particularly enraged the North, which warned of reprisals if the sorties continued.The North Korean military statement Tuesday, carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, referred to the B-52 flights again, saying they had taken place over South Korea on Monday.The U.S. Department of Defense responded to the North's latest saber-rattling by reiterating its confidence that it can fend off whatever the regime of Kim Jong Un can come up with."The U.S. is fully capable of defending ourselves and our allies against an attack" by North Korea, said Lt.
U.S. to beef up missile defense because of North Korean threat
(CNN) -- The United States will deploy additional ground-based missile interceptors as part of efforts to enhance the nation's ability to defend itself from attack by North Korea or Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Friday.Still relatively new in his post, the Pentagon chief told reporters that 14 additional interceptors would bring the total to 44.
North Korea vows end to nonaggression pacts after U.N. vote
(CNN) -- North Korea on Friday responded to tougher sanctions from the U.N. Security Council with another barrage of vitriol, repeating a vow to ditch all nonaggression pacts with the South.A day after the isolated regime in Pyongyang had threatened a possible "preemptive nuclear attack" -- something analysts say they think it is unlikely and currently unable to do -- its official news agency reeled off a number of agreements with South Korea that it said would no longer apply.It's the latest installment in a week of furious rhetoric from the North, fueled by its anger over the U.N. vote on the new sanctions, a response to the Pyongyang's recent nuclear test, and joint military drills by the United States and South Korea, which take place in the region each year.North Korea watchers and U.S. officials say that the recent frenzy of ominous language from North Korea under its young leader Kim Jong Un makes the situation on the Korean Peninsula more worrying and unpredictable.South Korea has warned the North that it will retaliate strongly and sternly if its citizens are threatened."This surge in provocative rhetoric is particularly dangerous," said Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute. "South Korea's new president (Park Geun Hye) can't be seen to back down in the face of the North's threats, while Kim Jong Un may feel that his successful missile and nuclear tests give him the ability to keep pressuring Seoul.
Report: North Korea threatens to end armistice
(CNN) -- North Korea threatened Tuesday to nullify the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, citing U.S.-led international moves to impose new sanctions against it over its recent nuclear test, the North's official news agency KCNA reported.Pyongyang's military said it will also cut off direct phone links with South Korea at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, KCNA added.North and South Korea have technically been at war for decades.
Retired basketball star Dennis Rodman visits North Korea
(CNN) -- North Korea increased tensions with the U.S. by conducting an underground nuclear test last month, but the government is playing friendly with at least one American.
Tough U.N. action vowed after North Korean nuclear test
HONG KONG (CNN) -- North Korea's nuclear test prompted united condemnation and a vow of tough action from the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.The council issued a statement slamming an underground nuclear test that jolted the already fragile security situation in Northeast Asia.South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, repeating a statement to reporters outside council chambers, said the test violated council resolutions, and "there continues to exist a clear threat to international peace and security."Kim said that council members will start work "on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution" and that "North Korea will be held responsible for any consequences of this provocative act." The council is chaired this month by South Korea.The statement comes after the Security Council last month promised "significant action" if another North Korean nuclear test occurred.The test probably took place near P'unggye and yielded "several kilotons," according to assessments cited by the U.S. director of national intelligence.
North Korea appears to conduct 3rd nuclear test, officials and experts say
HONG KONG (CNN) -- North Korea appeared to have conducted its third underground nuclear bomb test Tuesday, officials and experts said, as U.S. seismologists reported activity centered near the site of the secretive regime's two previous atomic blasts.Although North Korea had warned the world of its plans to carry out a new test in a vitriolic statement last month, the move is still likely to rattle the security situation in Northeast Asia as analysts try to determine the power and complexity of the device the North is thought to have detonated.If confirmed, it would be the first nuclear test under the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, who appears to be sticking closely to his father's policy of building up the isolated state's military deterrent to keep its foes at bay, shrugging off the resulting international condemnation and sanctions.It also provided a provocative reminder of a seemingly intractable foreign policy challenge for President Barack Obama ahead of his State of the Union address later Tuesday.The area around the reported epicenter of the magnitude 4.9 disturbance in northeastern North Korea has little or no history of earthquakes or natural seismic hazards, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps.
North Korea says nuclear test will be part of fight against U.S.
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea said Thursday that it plans to carry out a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches, all of which it said are a part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States.
N. Korea's rocket launch sparks worries about nukes, Iran and the Pacific
(CNN) -- North Korea's newly launched satellite marks a "big deal" for Pyongyang, the crossing of a major threshold and a public relations win for the secretive country's new leader, Kim Jong Un, experts say.
North Korea carries out controversial rocket launch
HONG KONG (CNN) -- North Korea has carried out the launch of a long-range rocket, South Korea's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday, December 12th.
Navy moves destroyers ahead of possible North Korea missile launch
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Navy is moving some warships into position to monitor a possible upcoming North Korean launch of a long-range ballistic missile, Defense Department officials said Thursday.
North Korea plans rocket launch within days
(CNN) -- North Korea plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite between December 10 and 22, a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said Saturday, according to state-run media.
Onion fools China with Kim Jong Un "sexiest man alive" story
(CNN) -- China, as one Twitter user wrote Tuesday, November 27th, has been fooled by the "mysterious Western art of satire." The merciless comedy website The Onion has declared North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the "sexiest man alive for 2012." And it appears China's People's Daily Online has taken the story seriously!