North Korea's Kim holds off on Guam
missile plan; Seoul says will prevent war
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[August 15, 2017]
By Christine Kim and Idrees Ali
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's
leader has delayed a decision on firing missiles towards Guam while he
waits to see what the United States does next, the North's state media
said on Tuesday, as South Korea's president said Seoul would seek to
prevent war by all means.
Signs of an easing in tension on the Korean peninsula helped stock
markets rally for a second day running even as the United States and
South Korea prepared for more joint military drills, which infuriate the
North, and experts warned it could still go ahead with its provocative
plan.
In his first public appearance in about two weeks, North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un inspected the command of the North's army on Monday,
examining a plan to fire four missiles to land near the U.S. Pacific
territory of Guam, the official KCNA said in a report.
"He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous
reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing
the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important
decision as it already declared," the report said.
The DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
In photos released with the KCNA report, Kim was seen holding a baton
and pointing at a map showing a flight path for the missiles appearing
to start from North Korea's east coast, flying over Japan towards Guam.
North Korea has often threatened to attack the United States and its
bases and released similar photos in the past but never followed
through.
Pyongyang's plans to fire missiles near Guam prompted a surge in
tensions in the region last week, with U.S. President Donald Trump
saying the U.S. military was "locked and loaded" if North Korea acted
unwisely.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday there would be no
military action without Seoul's consent and his government would prevent
war by all means.
"Military action on the Korean peninsula can only be decided by South
Korea and no one else can decide to take military action without the
consent of South Korea," Moon said in a speech to commemorate the
anniversary of the nation's liberation from Japanese military rule in
1945.
"The government, putting everything on the line, will block war by all
means," Moon said.
NUCLEAR DETERRENT
Japan will be seeking further reassurance from Washington in meetings
between Japan's defense chief and foreign minister and their U.S.
counterparts on Thursday.
"The strategic environment is becoming harsher and we need to discuss
how we will respond to that," a Japanese foreign ministry official said
in a briefing in Tokyo.
"We will look for the U.S. to reaffirm it defense commitment, including
the nuclear deterrent."
The Liberation Day holiday, celebrated by both North and South, will be
followed next week by the joint U.S.-South Korean military drills.
North Korea has persisted with its nuclear and missile programs, to ward
off perceived U.S. hostility, in defiance of U.N. Security Council
resolutions and sanctions.
China, North Korea's main ally and trading partner, has repeatedly urged
Pyongyang to halt its weapons program and at the same time urged South
Korea and the United States to stop military drills to lower tensions.
[to top of second column] |
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Command of the Strategic
Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an unknown location in
North Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean
Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 15, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said
the crisis was approaching a critical juncture and urged all sides
in the standoff to help "put out the flames" and not add fuel to the
fire.
Hua said she noted comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about using diplomacy to resolve
the issue, saying China hoped these words can be put into action.
"We also call on North Korea to echo this in response," Hua told a
daily news briefing.
Asian shares rose for a second day on Tuesday and the dollar firmed
after Kim's comments further eased tension and prompted investors to
move back into riskier assets after a sharp selloff last week.
[MKTS/GLOB]
Kim Dong-yub, a professor and a military expert at Kyungnam
University's Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, urged
caution in assuming North Korea was bluffing with its missile
threats.
"There is no stepping back for North Korea. Those who don't know the
North very well fall into this trap every time (thinking they are
easing threats) but we've seen this before."
The United States and South Korea remain technically still at war
with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a
truce, not a peace treaty.
North Korea is currently holding three U.S. citizens it accuses of
espionage or hostile acts but now was not the right time to discuss
them, KCNA cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a
separate report.
Pyongyang has in the past used detainees to extract concessions,
including high-profile visits from the United States, which has no
formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.
U.S. officials have in recent days played down the risk of an
imminent conflict while stressing their preparedness to respond
militarily to any attack from North Korea.
Mattis said on Monday the U.S. military would know the trajectory of
a missile fired from North Korea within moments and would "take it
out" if it looked like it would hit the U.S. Pacific territory.
"The bottom line is, we will defend the country from an attack; for
us (U.S. military) that is war," Mattis said.
On Guam, home to a U.S. air base, a Navy installation, a Coast Guard
group and roughly 6,000 U.S. military personnel, residents expressed
some relief at the lessening of tensions.
"I'm reading between the lines that I don't see an imminent threat,"
Guam Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio told a media briefing in the
island's capital of Hagatna.
(Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Jane Chung in Seoul, Tim
Kelly in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Joseph Campbell in
Guam; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick
Macfie)
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