South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea opposes any military response to North Korea’s impending rocket launch. Washington’s defense chief said the US would not try to shoot it down, though Japan deployed warships armed with interceptors to deal with possible fallout of any missile test.
Meanwhile, North Korean authorities detained a South Korean worker at a border factory park for allegedly denouncing Pyongyang’s political system, further raising tensions on the divided peninsula.
The remarks on the rocket launch by Lee and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reflect attempts to be tough with Pyongyang without provoking the regime over a launch that regional powers warn would violate a UN Security Council resolution on ballistic activity, analysts said.
Japan, the US and other regional powers suspect that the expected launch between Saturday and April 8 — which Pyongyang says is a communications satellite — may be a cover for testing a long-range missile capable of reaching the western US.
South Korea and the US are taking a measured approach because they want to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang — and because the US and North Korea will likely hold their first direct talks since US President Barack Obama’s inauguration after the rocket launch, analyst Kim Yong-hyun of Seoul’s Dongguk University said.
“This puts everyone in a difficult position. Taking action could provoke the North — that’s the dilemma,” said Peter Beck, an analyst who teaches Korean affairs in Seoul and Washington.
Lee, in an interview with the Financial Times published yesterday, said he was against using military means or shuttering a joint industrial complex in North Korea, a key source of hard currency for the impoverished nation, as punishment for the rocket launch.
“Taking a harder stance — I don’t think that would necessarily be helpful in achieving” Seoul’s objective of ridding the North of its nuclear weapons program, Lee told the paper.
Tensions that have heightened since Lee took office last year vowing to get tough with Pyongyang were ratcheted up further after Seoul’s Unification Ministry said yesterday that North Korean authorities had detained a worker at the joint factory complex in the city of Kaesong on the northern side of the border.
North Korea has assured Seoul it would guarantee the worker’s safety, the ministry said without providing specifics.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
RSS