North Korea followed recent conciliatory gestures toward the US and South Korea with a return to threats yesterday, warning them of “merciless retaliation” over sanctions imposed on its government, as well as nuclear attacks in response to any atomic threats.
Seoul and Washington will kick off annual computer-simulated war games today, which North Korea sees as preparations for an invasion. The US and South Korea say the maneuvers are purely defensive.
“Should the US imperialists and [South Korean government] threaten the [North] with nukes, it will retaliate against them with nukes,” the North Korean military said in a statement reported yesterday by the Korean Central News Agency.
Despite North Korea’s recent conciliatory gestures of freeing two detained US journalists and a South Korean worker, tensions continue on the divided Korean Peninsula, mainly over the North’s nuclear program.
The US is moving to enforce UN as well as its own sanctions against North Korea to punish it for its second nuclear test in May and a series of missile launches.
The UN sanctions strengthened an arms embargo and authorized ship searches on the high seas to try to rein in the North’s nuclear program. They also ordered an asset freeze and travel ban on companies and individuals linked to the program.
If the US and South Korea “tighten sanctions and push confrontation to an extreme phase, the [North] will react to them with merciless retaliation ... and an all-out war of justice,” the North Korean military statement said.
A US special envoy responsible for implementing the sanctions plans to visit Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan this week and could travel later this month to China.
Philip Goldberg told reporters last week the measures against North Korea will continue until it takes irreversible steps to scrap its nuclear program.
On Saturday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak renewed an offer of aid to North Korea and called for a “candid dialogue” with the North about dismantling its nuclear programs so it can prosper economically.
It was unclear if the aid offer — which has strings attached — would prod North Korea to back down from its promise to restart its nuclear program. Lee has made similar aid offers in the past, but the North has rejected them.
For years, South Korea had been one of North Korea’s biggest benefactors, but since taking office early last year, Lee suspended unconditional aid to the impoverished North as part of a new harder-line approach. The North responded by cutting most ties and curtailing key joint projects.
Lee also offered talks on reducing conventional arms and troops along the mine-strewn demilitarized zone, a 4km-wide buffer bisecting the Korean peninsula.
South and North Korea have hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops and heavy artillery along the 250km border. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft