The US and South Korean defense chiefs yesterday vowed to raise combat-readiness against North Korean attacks following two deadly incidents last year, saying aggression “is not to be tolerated.”
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin also described the North’s uranium enrichment program revealed in November last year as a “grave threat” that gave it a second path to develop atomic weapons.
Kim said there was a high possibility of further provocation next year as Pyongyang’s regime works to put a leadership succession plan in place.
The two chiefs made their commitments in a joint statement at the end of security talks.
Inter-Korean ties have been tense since Seoul accused its neighbor of torpedoing a South Korean warship in March last year near the Yellow Sea border with the loss of 46 lives.
The North denied sinking the ship, but shelled a border island in November, killing four South Koreans, including civilians.
“Pyongyang has demonstrated its readiness to conduct provocations that cost innocent lives,” Panetta told a press conference at the end of his three-day visit, in which he expressed full commitment to the defense of South Korea and other Asian allies.
Panetta said US troop levels in the South would not be reduced from the current 28,500 despite spending cutbacks at the Pentagon.
The two said in their statement they would advance combined readiness capabilities on islands and other areas near the disputed Yellow Sea border, a frequent flashpoint.
Any “North Korean aggression or provocation is not to be tolerated,” they reaffirmed.
“Next year, I believe the possibility that NK [North Korea] conducts a further provocation is high,” Kim said, noting a major anniversary next year and the ongoing succession process.
The allies would “respond very strongly” to any new provocation, he said, adding a joint plan for such a response would be completed this year.
The North vows to become a “great, powerful and prosperous nation” by next year, the 100th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il-sung.
Kim’s son and current leader Kim Jong-il is grooming his own son Jong-un to take over eventually.
Kim Kwan-jin said the US had agreed immediately to provide “an overwhelming number of forces” during crises.
Asked about the comment, Panetta’s spokesman, George Little, said he “wouldn’t speculate about hypotheticals.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS