Pyongyang urges nuclear build-up

Nation’s founding anniversary marked

SEOUL, Sept 9, (AFP): North Korea’s state media marked the nation’s founding anniversary Saturday with calls for a nuclear arms build-up, in defiance of mounting international sanctions.

South Korea’s military said it was keeping close tabs on the North amid speculation it could stage a missile launch or another nuclear test to mark the 1948 establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Sept 9 last year, and then carried out a sixth a week ago, saying it was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto a missile — prompting global condemnation and calls for further sanctions.

In July, it tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that appeared to bring much of the mainland US into range.

“The defence sector, in step with the party’s Byungjin policy (of developing the economy and nuclear weapons at the same time) must make cutting-edge Juche weapons in greater quantities,” the Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial, referring to the national philosophy of “Juche” or self-reliance.

The mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party called for more “miracle-like events” such as the two ICBM tests to deter the United States which it said was bent on “decapitating” the nation’s leader Kim Jong-Un.

Strong

“No matter how the US and its puppets kick up a ruckus, our republic, which has a strong military and the most powerful Juche bombs and weapons, and whose territory has all turned into fortresses, and all its people armed to the teeth, will remain an eternal iron-clad citadel,” it said.

In another commentary, Rodong Sinmun said the US would continue receiving “gift packages in different shapes and sizes” as long as it sticks to what it said was a hostile policy against the North.

Kim himself has called the ICBM tests “gift packages” that the North was delivering to the “US bastards”.

A South Korean defence ministry spokesman said there were no signs of the North preparing a missile launch or a nuclear test on Saturday.

“The military is maintaining its utmost defence posture, keeping a close watch over the North. But there is nothing out of the ordinary,” he told MOSCOW, Sept 9, (AFP): As Washington and its allies push for sanctions on North Korea after its latest nuclear test, Russian President Vladimir Putin has emerged as one of the most strident voices against punishing Pyongyang.

The United States, South Korea, Japan and EU are keen to ratchet up pressure on Kim Jong-Un by cutting oil supplies and freezing his assets, while President Donald Trump has not ruled out military action.

But Putin — whose country enjoys relatively warm relations with Pyongyang rooted in a Soviet-era alliance — insists further sanctions and threats are “useless” against a regime that feels cornered.

“They (North Koreans) will eat grass but will not give up this (nuclear) programme if they don’t feel safe,” Putin said at a summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen this week.

In pushing back against the West over North Korea, analysts say the Kremlin strongman is seeking to protect Moscow’s long-term strategic interests and maximise his own shortterm political gains as ties with the US remain in the doldrums.

Moscow has “completely cynical, geopolitical reasons,” Andrei Lankov, professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and director at consultancy Korearisk.com, told AFP.

For the sake of regional stability and influence, the Kremlin will look to shield the Stalinist regime from serious retribution because Russia sees the current status quo as a lesser evil.

Moscow fears that if the confrontation with Pyongyang spirals into a punitive strike or regime change then that could create chaos — and a potential

AFP.

But he warned the North could fire ballistic missiles at any time from easily concealed mobile launchers.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified government official as saying that the North could carry out a seventh nuclear test at its Punggye-ri test site at any moment.

The official also said the North could choose the founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, which falls on October 10, to hold another test.

Meanwhile, two Japanese fighters and two US bombers carried out a joint exercise over the East China Sea new democratic US ally — on its border.

Lankov said the Kremlin — which has repeatedly voiced concern over NATO encroaching on its borders — does not want a new “democratic, national, pro-American” state on its eastern flank if the Kim dynasty is ousted.

“That scenario does not suit either China or Russia,” said Lankov, who lived in the isolated state and is the author of “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia.”

The prospect of a US nuclear strike and subsequent chaos and a refugee exodus is even more scary than a democratic country on Russia’s doorstep, said another Korea scholar, Alexander Zhebin.

“A military conflict on the peninsula would have disastrous consequences for the Koreans and the entire region,” said Zhebin, director of the Center for Korean Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, adding that South Korea — with its 25 nuclear reactors - was especially vulnerable.

“Where would 70 million people go to live?” said Zhebin, referring to a combined population of the two Koreas. “Radiation will also badly affect Russia and China.”

While the doom-and-gloom scenario is still seen by many as an unlikely occurence, experts say Putin is seeking to use the global jitters to reap benefits on the international arena.

Promoting himself as a negotiator capable of dealing with pariah regimes, Putin will once again polish his foreign policy credentials ahead of a 2018 presidential election which he is expected to win.

on Saturday, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in Tokyo.

“It is important for us to display strong Japan-US relations for Japan’s security,” Onodera was quoted as saying by broadcaster NHK.

The United States wants the UN Security Council to vote on Monday to impose tougher sanctions against North Korea despite resistance from China and Russia.

A US-presented draft resolution calls for an oil embargo on North Korea, an assets freeze on Kim, a ban on textiles and an end to payments of North Korean guest workers.