TIDINGS WATCH! Will Monday be 'launch' day? NORTH KOREA UNBENDING

Pyongyang, which was preparing to celebrate the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung on Monday, reiterated it had no intention of abandoning its atomic arms programs.

“We will expand in quantity our nuclear weapons capability, which is the treasure of a unified Korea … that we would never barter at any price,” Kim Young-nam, North Korea’s titular head of state, told a gathering of officials and service personnel applauding Kim Il-Sung.

The KCNA news agency also rejected as a “cunning trick” South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s suggestion last week of holding talks with the North.

The South Korean capital, Seoul, displayed the calm it has shown throughout the crisis. Residents strolled in bright sunshine a day after the city’s World Cup stadium was jammed with 50,000 mostly young fans of local rapper Psy.

On Saturday, Kerry met leaders in China, the North’s sole diplomatic and financial benefactor, and said China and the United States were committed to “the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner”.

During his first stop in South Korea, where the United States has 28,000 troops stationed, Kerry said North Korea, furious at joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, would be making a “huge mistake” if it were to launch a missile.

He also said China was in a position to influence the North’s policy and had to put “some teeth” into efforts to persuade Pyongyang to alter its policies.

Japan, separated from North Korea by less than 1,000 km (625 miles) of water and a frequent target of its anger, is well within range of North Korea’s medium-range missiles.

Japanese news reports said Tokyo had sent Aegis-class destroyers capable of missile interception to the Sea of Japan. Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles have been deployed at key locations in the capital and surrounding areas.

Kerry’s agenda in Tokyo also included Japan’s territorial disputes with China, and the future of U.S. bases in Japan.

He repeated that while Washington took no position about the ultimate sovereignty of tiny isles in the East China Sea claimed by both China and Japan, the United States “opposed any unilateral action that would somehow change the status quo”.

A flare-up of the territorial row has raised fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The United States says the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but is keen to avoid a clash in the economically vital region.

read more http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/14/us-korea-north-usa-idUSBRE93C01Z20130414

Michael D. Shoesmith

2013-04-14 13:45:13

Source: http://ppsimmons.blogspot.com/2013/04/tidings-watch-will-monday-be-launch-day.html