North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il vowed no compromise and said he was braced for "all-out war" as tension mounted yesterday before a UN vote on whether to impose sanctions on Pyongyang for its missile tests.
Japan, which has led the push with the US to punish the North, said it would not rule out a preemptive strike on North Korea in case of any direct nuclear threat. Seoul accused Tokyo of aggravating the situation.
As China and Russia held firm against the UN draft resolution to impose further sanctions on the impoverished North, a US envoy stressed the need for a diplomatic solution on disarmament and urged Pyongyang to return to stalled talks on its nuclear program.
Kim, in his first reported remarks since Pyongyang test-fired seven missiles into the sea last Wednesday, was unyielding.
"The general has declared that not even a tiny concession will be made to the imperialist US invaders, our archenemy," said a broadcast on North Korean state television.
Kim, who never speaks himself in public, said that if the US took "revenge," it would mean "all-out war."
"It is not empty talk for the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea] to respond with revenge to any revenge by the enemy and with all-out war to an all-out war," the TV said.
It added: "It is out of the general's conviction, desire and courage that we should respond to the enemy's knife with a sword and to the enemy's gun with a cannon."
Last week's missile launch included the new Taepodong-2, which was believed to be capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii, but which quickly crashed into the Sea of Japan.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tokyo had the right to carry out a preemptive attack in the face of a serious threat despite its pacifist post-World War II Constitution.
"It is impossible for us to do nothing until we are attacked by a country which says it has nuclear weapons and could fire missiles against Japan," Aso, an outspoken hawk, told NHK public television.
Aso stood firm on the UN resolution. The Security Council, where Japan has tried in vain to win the same veto power as sanctions opponents China and Russia, will decide later today when to vote on the draft.
"If we give in to just one veto power, then we will end up sending the wrong message to the international community," Aso said.
South Korea criticized Tokyo yesterday for its "shrill voice."
"There is nothing good in heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula and worsening inter-Korean relations. This will not help at all to settle the nuclear issue or the missile issue," said a statement from the office of President Roh Moo-Hyun's spokesman.
Meanwhile, Christopher Hill, the US delegate to the six-party nuclear negotiations, said he was ready to meet one-on-one with the North if it returns to the six-nation talks.
He insisted that all nations were speaking with "one voice" on North Korea.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2