North Korea approves nuclear strike on US

[jha]

In an unrelated ( or, related ) news :

North Korea warns it cannot protect embassies after April 10

North Korea has said it cannot assure the safety of embassies in Pyongyang after April 10, and has urged Britain, Russia and other European nations to evacuate diplomatic staff amid soaring nuclear tensions.

Countries across Europe on Friday reported receiving a letter suggesting they pull out of Pyongyang, as an increasingly bellicose North Korea moved two mid-range missiles to its east coast.

"Their communication said that from April 10, the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organisations in the country in the event of conflict," a spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said.

"Our understanding is that the North Koreans were asking whether embassies are intending to leave, rather than advising them to leave."

Britain was considering its next steps, she said, while reminding North Korea of its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic missions.

Russia, which has relatively close ties with North Korea, also received the missive.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was in close contact with its partners including China over the suggestion..

"The suggestion was made to all embassies in Pyongyang and we are trying to clarify the situation," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on a visit to Uzbekistan.

"We are in close contact with our Chinese partners as well as the Americans", and all participants in the frozen six-party talks process seeking peace on the peninsula, he added.

He said there were "many factors" that needed clarification.

The spokesman of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, Denis Samsonov, told Russian news agencies that a representative of the North Korean foreign ministry "suggested that the Russian side examine the question of evacuating the employees of the Russian embassy."

He said the mission had taken note of the information and was working normally. "We are currently in the process of taking the decision," said Samsonov, adding that the current situation in Pyongyang was "absolutely peaceful".

A Russian foreign ministry source was quoted as saying by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies that the security of Russian citizens was the priority in the taking of any decision.

"Unfortunately, the situation (on the Korean peninsula) is not developing in the way that we would like. For us the security of our citizens is the priority," said the unnamed source.

In Sofia, a foreign ministry spokesman said North Korea has sent letters to Bulgaria and other EU countries telling them to consider pulling their diplomatic staff from Pyongyang for security reasons.

"Yes, we — along with other EU member states — have received such a letter signed by a deputy foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," foreign ministry Spokesman Dimitar Yaprakov told AFP.

He said all foreign ambassadors had been summoned by Pyongyang's foreign ministry "telling them that it was ready to assist them if they wanted to evacuate their missions."

"The chiefs of EU missions to Pyongyang are meeting tomorrow there to discuss a common position and common action," he added.

The Czech foreign ministry also confirmed receiving the statement.

"I can confirm the information," spokesman Karel Srol told AFP in Prague.

"Each Czech embassy has a detailed plan of what to do in a crisis. If the situation required such steps, they would be taken," Srol said, confirming that the Czech embassy in Pyongyang has four employees.

Russia on Thursday made its harshest criticism yet of North Korea in the current crisis, describing Pyongyang's actions as "categorically unacceptable".

Moscow retains relatively close ties with North Korea which go back to the Soviet Union when Soviet forces occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, leading to the creation of a pro-Moscow communist North Korean state.

But Russia also shares a short border with North Korea south of Vladivostok in its Far Eastern region and has clearly been irritated by the country's recent bellicose behaviour.

In an unrelated ( or, related ) news :

North Korea warns it cannot protect embassies after April 10

North Korea has said it cannot assure the safety of embassies in Pyongyang after April 10, and has urged Britain, Russia and other European nations to evacuate diplomatic staff amid soaring nuclear tensions.

Countries across Europe on Friday reported receiving a letter suggesting they pull out of Pyongyang, as an increasingly bellicose North Korea moved two mid-range missiles to its east coast.

"Their communication said that from April 10, the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organisations in the country in the event of conflict," a spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said.

"Our understanding is that the North Koreans were asking whether embassies are intending to leave, rather than advising them to leave."

Britain was considering its next steps, she said, while reminding North Korea of its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic missions.

Russia, which has relatively close ties with North Korea, also received the missive.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was in close contact with its partners including China over the suggestion..

"The suggestion was made to all embassies in Pyongyang and we are trying to clarify the situation," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on a visit to Uzbekistan.

"We are in close contact with our Chinese partners as well as the Americans", and all participants in the frozen six-party talks process seeking peace on the peninsula, he added.

He said there were "many factors" that needed clarification.

The spokesman of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, Denis Samsonov, told Russian news agencies that a representative of the North Korean foreign ministry "suggested that the Russian side examine the question of evacuating the employees of the Russian embassy."

He said the mission had taken note of the information and was working normally. "We are currently in the process of taking the decision," said Samsonov, adding that the current situation in Pyongyang was "absolutely peaceful".

A Russian foreign ministry source was quoted as saying by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies that the security of Russian citizens was the priority in the taking of any decision.

"Unfortunately, the situation (on the Korean peninsula) is not developing in the way that we would like. For us the security of our citizens is the priority," said the unnamed source.

In Sofia, a foreign ministry spokesman said North Korea has sent letters to Bulgaria and other EU countries telling them to consider pulling their diplomatic staff from Pyongyang for security reasons.

"Yes, we — along with other EU member states — have received such a letter signed by a deputy foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," foreign ministry Spokesman Dimitar Yaprakov told AFP.

He said all foreign ambassadors had been summoned by Pyongyang's foreign ministry "telling them that it was ready to assist them if they wanted to evacuate their missions."

"The chiefs of EU missions to Pyongyang are meeting tomorrow there to discuss a common position and common action," he added.

The Czech foreign ministry also confirmed receiving the statement.

"I can confirm the information," spokesman Karel Srol told AFP in Prague.

"Each Czech embassy has a detailed plan of what to do in a crisis. If the situation required such steps, they would be taken," Srol said, confirming that the Czech embassy in Pyongyang has four employees.

Russia on Thursday made its harshest criticism yet of North Korea in the current crisis, describing Pyongyang's actions as "categorically unacceptable".

Moscow retains relatively close ties with North Korea which go back to the Soviet Union when Soviet forces occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, leading to the creation of a pro-Moscow communist North Korean state.

But Russia also shares a short border with North Korea south of Vladivostok in its Far Eastern region and has clearly been irritated by the country's recent bellicose behaviour.

 

[Edevelop]

Fidel Castro to North Korea: nuclear war will benefit no one

Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro published his first column in nearly nine months on Friday, urging both friends and foes to use restraint amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

In the brief piece published in Communist Party daily Granma and other official media, Castro warned of the impact that nuclear war could unleash in Asia and beyond. He said Havana has always been and will continue to be an ally to North Korea, but gently admonished it to consider the well-being of humankind.

"Now that you have demonstrated your technical and scientific advances, we remind you of your duty to the countries that have been your great friends, and it would not be fair to forget that such a war would affect ... more than 70% of the planet's population," he said.

Castro used stronger language in addressing Washington, saying that if fighting breaks out, President Barack Obama's government "would be buried by a flood of images that would present him as the most sinister figure in US history. The duty to avoid (war) also belongs to him and the people of the United States."

North Korea has issued a series of escalating threats in recent weeks as the United States and South Korea have conducted joint military exercises beginning in March, and expressed anger over U.N. sanctions imposed after it held a nuclear test in February. Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons for self-defense, and on Tuesday it announced it would restart a plutonium reactor that was shut down in 2007.

Analysts say the elevated rhetoric is probably calculated to push for concessions from South Korea, prod Washington into talks and bolster the image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But Castro called the situation "incredible and absurd," and said war would cause terrible harm to the people of both Koreas and benefit no one.

"This is one of the gravest risks of nuclear war since the October Crisis in 1962 involving Cuba, 50 years ago," he wrote, a reference to what is known in English as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Castro last published one of his columns known as "Reflections" on June 19, 2012. In October, amid the latest round of rumors of his purportedly dire health, he said he had stopped writing them not due to illness but because they were occupying space in official newspapers and state TV news broadcasts that was needed for other uses.

Letters signed by him have been released periodically, however, including a message of condolences last month following the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close friend and ally.

He also appeared in person in February at a voting station, bantering for more than an hour with poll workers, island reporters and children.

Castro has been out of office since 2006, when a near-fatal intestinal ailment forced him to hand power to his younger brother Raul.

Fidel Castro to North Korea: nuclear war will benefit no one | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[jha]

This new regime does not know when to back down a little. Must be very trying time for average North Koreans.

 

[Hack-Hook]

Whats the point of targeting a civilian area? will that have any effect on the South's military might? you are assuming that the South will be just twiddling their thumbs when this so called massive buildup happens across the border, any large scale troop and artillery movement or activity will be construed as preparation of war and all sides will be geared up to fire back and take a hit as well.

Fat Kim should just go ahead and fire the first shot and see what happens after that.

The civilian are sort of hostages .


and there is no need for massive buildup , the forces are there since 60 , they just need to receive to order to start firing . have you forgot both Korea are still technically at war .

 

[Hack-Hook]

Double post