U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, right center, meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se at the Pentagon, April 3, 2013. Hagel congratulated Byung-se on his appointment as foreign minister, and discussed the United States’ commitment to its alliance with South Korea. Photo:DOD
UPDATE:
On Thursday, Korea time, North Korea dramatically ratcheted up its bellicose bluster by warning that it had cleared its military to launch nuclear strikes on targets in the United States.
According to Agence France Presse:
“The moment of explosion is approaching fast,” the North Korean military said, warning that war could break out “today or tomorrow”.
[::]
In a statement published by the state KCNA news agency, the Korean People’s Army general staff warned Washington that US threats would be “smashed by… cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means”.
“The merciless operation of our revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified,” the statement said.
The White House was swift to react to Pyongyang’s latest “unhelpful and unconstructive threats”.
Read more here
Original Post:
This is a roundup of the latest news and developments on the North Korea situation:
From the Department of Defense (DOD):
The Department of Defense will deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) ballistic missile defense system to Guam in the coming weeks as a precautionary move to strengthen our regional defense posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat.
The THAAD system is a land-based missile defense system that includes a truck-mounted launcher, a complement of interceptor missiles, an AN/TPY-2 tracking radar, and an integrated fire control system. This deployment will strengthen defense capabilities for American citizens in the U.S. Territory of Guam and U.S. forces stationed there.
The United States continues to urge the North Korean leadership to cease provocative threats and choose the path of peace by complying with its international obligations. The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and stands ready to defend U.S. territory, our allies, and our national interests.
Readout by Pentagon Press Secretary George Little on Secretary Hagel’s Meeting with Republic of Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun, Byung-Se:
“Secretary Hagel reaffirmed to Minister Yun that the United States’ enduring defense and extended deterrence commitments to South Korea will not change and that it is our duty to remain vigilant during this time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.
“The two leaders discussed the importance of the recent U.N. Security Council Resolutions that are designed to limit North Korea’s progress on its nuclear and missile programs. While the Department of Defense remains focused on fulfilling security commitments, Secretary Hagel stated that diplomatic efforts are fundamental to encouraging North Korea to pursue the path of peace.
The Pentagon’s response to North Korea now includes two destroyers as well as a sea-based X-band radar, or SBX, used to support ballistic missile defenses, and is now part of the mission. In addition to the USS John McCain, which the Pentagon announced earlier this week, Pentagon press secretary George Little yesterday said a second ship, the USS Decatur, was in the Pacific monitoring North Korea and “poised to respond to any missile threats to our allies or our territory.”
But when asked about the SBX that is also in the region, Little said it wasn’t part of the response to North Korea and that decisions about any future deployments of the system have yet to be made. “I believe it’s incorrect to tie the SBX at this point to what’s happening on the Korean Peninsula right now,” he said. But other U.S. officials tell Situation Report that the SBX — what looks like a floating oil rig with a huge golf ball atop ¬- is in the Pacific for good reason. While it was deployed under U.S. Northern Command March 24 as part of regularly scheduled testing, it has now been clearly plugged into the larger ballistic missile defense effort in response to trouble on the Korean Peninsula, Situation Report is told.
Korea on Wednesday barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North, officials in Seoul said, a day after Pyongyang announced it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material.
The move to block South Koreans from going to their jobs at the Kaesong industrial complex, the last remaining symbol of detente between the rivals, comes amid increasing hostility from Pyongyang, which has threatened to stage nuclear and missile strikes on Seoul and Washington and has said that the armistice ending the 1950s Korean War is void.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman, Kim Hyung-suk, said Pyongyang was allowing South Koreans to return home from Kaesong. But Kim said about 480 South Koreans who had planned to travel to the park Wednesday had been refused entry.
Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks during meeting with South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se:
Today, we discussed all of the issues that you would obviously imagine we would and even more. We covered a great deal, but I will start with North Korea. We’ve heard an extraordinary amount of unacceptable rhetoric from the North Korean Government in the last days. So let me be perfectly clear here today: The United States will defend and protect ourselves and our treaty ally, the Republic of Korea. The Foreign Minister and I also think it’s important to stay absolutely focused on our shared goal of a peaceful Korean Peninsula, free of nuclear weapons. And we agree that improved relations between North and South would ultimately help to move us towards that goal. That is a stated goal of the new President of the Republic of Korea, and we look forward to working with her to achieve that goal.
