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NUKEWARS
N.Korea 'confident of China rocket backing': analyst
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) March 30, 2012


S. Korea, China, Japan to hold talks amid missile plan
Seoul (AFP) March 29, 2012 - South Korea, China and Japan will hold talks next month on regional security and cooperation, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday, with North Korea's rocket plan set to figure on the sidelines.

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan will hold the two-day talks with counterparts Yang Jiechi from China and Japan's Koichiro Gemba in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo starting April 7, said ministry spokesman Cho Byung-Jae.

Cho said North Korea's rocket launch planned for mid-April was certain to be raised bilaterally on the sidelines of the three-way talks, the sixth of their kind.

Defying international appeals and expressions of concern from its close ally China, the North says it will launch a satellite between April 12-16.

Japan's Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported earlier Thursday that the North has started fuelling the long-range rocket.

Cho said he could not confirm the report, calling it an intelligence matter.

South Korea, the United States, Japan and other countries have condemned the planned launch as a pretext to test ballistic missile technology, in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

North Korea is confident of China's ultimate backing over the launch of a rocket that the West suspects is a disguised missile test, a Japanese defence adviser has warned.

Hiroyasu Akutsu, professor at the National Institute for Defence Studies (NIDS), said the secretive state would not back down over the launch, despite the urging of countries across the globe and the threat of the withdrawal of much-needed food aid.

"They are confident that China will ultimately support them if they launch the satellite" despite international pressure, he told reporters ahead of the publication of the "East Asian Strategic Review" published by NIDS.

Washington has asked Beijing to rein in its errant ally, but the response so far has been muted.

China has expressed concern over the planned launch and urged "restraint" on all sides following pronouncements from some countries -- including Japan -- that any rocket could be shot down.

Pyongyang insists it has the right to launch what it maintains is a satellite for peaceful purposes, but the US and its allies say any launch would contravene UN sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's missile programme.

The study, being published Friday, is an annual venture commissioned by Japan's Defence Ministry, which influences national defence policy.

It warns improvements in nuclear technology, coupled with the change in leadership that has seen the untested Kim Jong-Un take control in Pyongyang, have increased the danger for the region.

Experts have said the communist state may have succeeded in miniaturising its nuclear weapons, raising alarm bells among defense analysts.

"If this leads to North Korea gaining the ability to mount its nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles, it would pose a major threat to countries in the region, including Japan," the study said.

Pyongyang's insistence on pressing ahead with uranium enrichment, along with an increase in the target range of ballistic missiles, is also alarming, it added.

"As of January 2012, the new regime under party and military leader Kim Jong-Un... may resort to missile firings, nuclear tests and other provocations to boost its national prestige and strengthen the regime's foundations," the report said.

"The security situation in the Korean Peninsula therefore remains as unpredictable as ever," it said.

North Korea had begun fuelling its rocket for launch on April 12 or 13, a media report said Thursday, the day after the United States suspended planned food aid.

North Korea insisted this week it would go ahead with what it calls a peaceful satellite launch, snubbing a call from US President Barack Obama to drop the plan and accusing him of a "confrontational mindset".

The United States has suspended plans to send food aid to North Korea, saying it has broken a promise to halt missile launches and cannot be trusted to give the aid to those who need it, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Under a deal reached last month, North Korea had agreed to a partial nuclear freeze and a missile test moratorium in return for 240,000 tonnes of US food aid.

But, said Akutsu, there would be a silver lining if North Korea goes ahead with the launch.

"It will... provide an opportunity for us to observe progress in North Korea's missile technology," he said.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
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NUKEWARS
EU leaders urge N. Korea to scrap rocket launch plan
Seoul (AFP) March 28, 2012
European Union leaders Wednesday voiced "grave concern" at North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programmes and called on it to scrap a long-range rocket launch scheduled for next month. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said he was deeply worried by the North's plan to launch a satellite. The United States and other nations see the launch as a disguised missile test banned by ... read more


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