Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
N. Korea fires tirade at S. Korean leader
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) March 27, 2013


S. Korean soldier throws grenade on tense border
Seoul (AFP) March 27, 2013 - A South Korean soldier standing on guard at the tense inter-Korean border threw a grenade toward a moving object in the dark early Wednesday, sparking a short-lived alarm, the defence ministry said.

At daylight, a patrol searched the area but there was no trace of any infiltration from North Korea, a ministry spokesman said.

A precautionary alert, which had been issued for South Korean units in the northeastern county of Hwacheon, was consequently lifted.

The episode came amid high tension on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's military has put rocket units on a war footing with a fresh threat to strike US targets as well as South Korea. Washington said it was ready to respond to "any contingency".

North Korea on Wednesday accused South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye of slander and provocation after she warned Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons or face collapse.

The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a state body in charge of propaganda and inter-Korean affairs, said Park was following the hardline anti-North stance of her predecessor Lee Myung-Bak.

"If she keeps to the road of confrontation like traitor Lee, defying the warnings of the DPRK (North Korea), she will meet a miserable ruin," it said.

The committee urged Park to "behave with discretion, clearly mindful that a wrong word may entail horrible disaster" at a time of elevated military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"The present chief executive of South Korea made invectives slandering the DPRK," it said, referring to her speech Tuesday marking the third anniversary of the sinking of a naval vessel by what Seoul insists was a North Korean submarine.

Park warned North Korea that its only "path to survival" lay in abandoning its nuclear and missile programmes, and urged Pyongyang to "change course".

The North's committee slammed Park's "confrontational rhetoric", saying it was "an unpardonable provocation... and a blatant challenge.

The committee also repeated a previous sexist swipe at Park, South Korea's first female president, painting her as overbearing and manipulative.

"We have already seriously warned against the venomous swish of skirt," it said.

"Swish of the skirt" (or "chima baram") is a common, derogatory Korean term used to criticise women seen as overly bossy or domineering.

North Korea's propaganda machine criticised Park repeatedly during the presidential campaign, warning that she would adopt the dictatorial methods of her father, the late military strongman Park Chung-Hee.

But it has been cautious in criticising Park since she was sworn in only a month ago as South Korea's first female president.

North Korea carried out a successful long-range rocket test in December and a third nuclear test last month.

Both events triggered UN sanctions that infuriated the North, which has spent the past month issuing increasingly dire threats about unleashing an "all-out war" backed by nuclear weapons.

N. Korea to hold meeting of top leaders: report
Seoul (AFP) March 27, 2013 - North Korea's top leaders are to meet in the coming days to decide on an unspecified "important" issue, official media said Wednesday, as tensions simmer on the Korean peninsula.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party's Central Committee will convene its plenary meeting before the end of March to "discuss and decide an important issue for victoriously advancing the Korean revolution", the Korean Central News Agency said.

KCNA did not specify the date for the meeting, which will also reportedly make a "drastic turn" in accomplishing the North's Juche (self-reliance) revolutionary cause.

Analysts in Seoul said decisions on issues concerning security, international relations and reshuffle of personnel were likely to be made at the meeting and approved by the North's rubber-stamp parliament, meeting on April 1.

"They will discuss how to handle the nuclear issue, inter-Korean relations and North Korea's long-standing demand for a peace treaty with the United States," Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told AFP.

Yang said Jang Song-Thaek, uncle of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, could be appointed as prime minister with the task of resuscitating the country's struggling socialist economy.

There could also be changes in the make-up of the powerful Presidium of the Political Bureau.

Vice Marshall Hyon Yong-Chol, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could join the body, which would further strengthen the military's say over key state affairs, said Yang.

Angered by UN sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in February, Pyongyang has issued a wave of threats over the past month -- ranging from a surgical military strike to nuclear war.

North Korea's military put its "strategic" rocket units on a war footing Tuesday, with a fresh threat to strike targets on the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam, as well as South Korea.

The move came as South Korea marked the third anniversary of the sinking of its naval vessel "Cheonan" by what Seoul insists was a North Korean submarine.

In the latest sign of tensions, a South Korean soldier standing on guard at the inter-Korean border threw a grenade towards a moving object in the dark early Wednesday, sparking a short-lived alarm, the defence ministry said.

At daylight, a patrol searched the area but there was no trace of any infiltration from North Korea, a ministry spokesman said.

A precautionary alert, which had been issued for South Korean units in the northeastern county of Hwacheon, was consequently lifted.

.


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
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
Park tells N. Korea 'abandon nuclear weapons' to survive
Daejeon, South Korea (AFP) March 26, 2013
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned North Korea on Tuesday that its only "path to survival" lay in abandoning its nuclear and missile programmes. In a speech to mark the third anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel by what Seoul insists was a North Korean submarine, Park called on Pyongyang to "change course" at a time of elevated military tension on the Korean pen ... read more


NUKEWARS
NASA's LRO Sees GRAIL's Explosive Farewell

Amazon's Bezos recovers Apollo 11 engines

Leaping Lunar Dust

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Seeks Public Support To Retrieve Apollo Era Moon Images

NUKEWARS
Opportunity Heads to Matijevic Hill

Curiosity Resumes Science Investigations

Digging for hidden treasure on Mars

Sun in the Way Will Affect Mars Missions in April

NUKEWARS
Miners shoot for the stars in tech race

Space Innovation Center Will Help Govt Agencies Launch Future Space Missions

The Future of Exploration Starts With 3-D Printing

Lockheed Martin to Continue Providing Life Sciences Support To NASA

NUKEWARS
China's Next Women Astronauts

Shenzhou 10 - Next Stop: Jiuquan

China's fourth space launch center to be in use in two years

China to launch new manned spacecraft

NUKEWARS
Russia may recycle space station modules

New Space Station Crew Members to Launch and Dock the Same Day

ESA seeks innovators for orbiting laboratory

New ISS crew prepares for launch

NUKEWARS
When quality counts: Arianespace reaffirms its North American market presence

SpaceX capsule returns after ISS resupply mission

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft Carrying NASA Cargo Ready for Return to Earth

Dragon capsule to spend extra day in space

NUKEWARS
The Great Exoplanet Debate

Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet

Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system

Water signature in distant planet shows clues to its formation

NUKEWARS
DARPA Envisions the Future of Machine Learning

Removing orbital debris with less risk

New 'BioShock' game takes aim at American taboos

Japan finds rich rare earth deposits on seabed: study




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement