Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: South Korea

Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts

Friday, January 14, 2011

KEPCO eying stakes in uranium enrichment firms -sources

State-run utility Korea Electric Power is looking to invest in uranium-enrichment operations and natural gas reserves outside of South Korea as a way to ensure raw materials for nuclear plants, a source at the company said. "We have discussed internally that acquiring stakes in overseas uranium-enrichment facilities and securing fuel will help us win overseas power plant bids," the source said. A 1991 agreement bars South Korea from owning a uranium-enrichment facility

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

N. Korea could soon pose threat to US: Gates

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/N_Korea_could_soon_pose_threat_to_US_Gates_999.html Beijing (AFP) Jan 11, 2011 US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Tuesday that North Korea could have long-range ballistic missiles within five years that would pose a direct threat to the United States, reflecting growing concerns over Pyongyang's arsenal. His comments represented a shift in the US view of North Korea's military power, describing the hardline regime in Pyongyang as making headway in its efforts to develop missiles that could potentially carry nuclear warheads.
"I think North Korea will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile within that timeframe (five years)," Gates told reporters during a visit to Beijing, where he discussed tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Gates, who met Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday, said he had conveyed to the Communist leaders in Beijing that their allies in Pyongyang would soon present a danger to the United States.
"With the North Koreans' continued development of nuclear weapons and their development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States and we have to take that into account," he said.
North Korea has test-fired three ICBMs, most recently in April 2009 when one flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.
Gates said the North could have a "limited" number of such missiles in five years, placing the US Pacific coast under potential threat.
The Pentagon chief said the United States appreciated the "helpful role" played by Beijing in recent months in containing the Korean crisis, after Pyongyang shelled a South Korean island in November, killing four people.
But he also said there had been a "sea change" in attitudes in South Korea, with the country's population outraged over Pyongyang's recent "provocations."
"Their tolerance for not responding has changed," he said.
Apart from the November 23 attack on Yeonpyeong island, the North stands accused by the South of torpedoing a warship last March with the loss of 46 lives. Pyongyang denies the charge.
The angry public reaction in South Korea had changed the "status quo" and it was vital that North Korea took actions to resolve the crisis, he said.
"Rhetoric is not enough at this point. There need to be some concrete actions by the North to demonstrate that they're truly serious about negotiation and engagement," he said.
Positive steps might include the North implementing a freeze on further missile or nuclear tests, he said.
US officials have sometimes expressed impatience with China's approach to North Korea, but Gates made a point of praising Beijing's diplomatic efforts during his visit.
However, his grave assessment of the situation on the divided peninsula and the North's weapons projects amount to renewed US pressure on China to rein in Pyongyang's leadership.
Gates said he expected the issue to come up in meetings later this week in Tokyo and Seoul, and when Hu visits Washington next week.
Pyongyang has expressed conditional willingness to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks that it abandoned in April 2009, a month before staging its second nuclear test.
But it fuelled regional fears in November by disclosing a uranium enrichment plant which could potentially give it a second route to a bomb.
The communist state this week officially proposed "unconditional" dialogue with Seoul, less than two months after the shelling assault.
The South rejected the offer, saying it was willing to hold government-level talks but only if the North admits responsibility for a series of provocations and confirms a commitment to scrapping its nuclear programme.
North Korea on Tuesday criticised South Korea's response, insisting it was sincere in trying to mend relations after months of tensions.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Redefining Denuclearization in Korea - Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Article Highlights

The extent and sophistication of North Korea's centrifuge program demonstrates how poorly export controls limit a determined proliferator. Its current cooperation with the likes of Iran and Burma raise the specter of Pyongyang operating an A.Q. Khan-style import-export proliferation network.
Pyongyang would greatly increase the current nuclear threat if it expands HEU production at undisclosed sites, increases the size of its nuclear arsenal substantially, or conducts more tests to enhance its sophistication.
Not only must the international community work to limit Pyongyang's nuclear buildup, but the United States must conduct a thorough review of its policies on Northeast Asia security.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

N. Korea Calls for Peace, Warns of "Nuclear Holocaust"

N. Korea Calls for Peace, Warns of "Nuclear Holocaust"
Tom Lasseter, McClatchy Newspapers: "North Korea on Saturday called for dialogue and peace on the Korean Peninsula in a state-issued New Year’s Day editorial, warning that a breakout of war with the South 'will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust'.... While the statement also characterized South Korea’s government as a 'minion of war' beholden to 'pro-U.S. war hawks,' the document’s repeated calls for more cooperation suggest that the North might be moving, for now, away from a pattern of attacks against the South."
Read the Article

Friday, December 31, 2010

Jordan Moving towards a Nuclear Future

[AMMAN] Jordan is to enter the nuclear age with the announcement on 9 December that construction of its first nuclear research and training reactor will begin by February next year.
The Jordan Centre for Nuclear Research, which will host the reactor, will be built at the Jordan University of Science and Technology, about 70 kilometres north of Amman.
Nedal Xoubi, nuclear fuel cycle commissioner of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC), told SciDev.Net that the Jordan Research and Training Reactor (JRTR) will be built at the centre at an estimated cost of US$130 million. The building's foundation was laid last month (23 November).
"The new reactor is a keystone in the nuclear infrastructure of Jordan, as a new generation of nuclear engineers and scientists will be trained in the facility," he said.
A South Korean consortium is building the five-megawatt reactor, which will be used for radioisotope production and training and is expected to be fully operational by 2015.
A full nuclear plant will follow, in line with plans to lessen Jordan's dependence on fossil fuel.
"[We want] to transform Jordan from a net energy importer to a net electricity exporter by 2030, with the aim of making low-cost power available to sustain the country's continued economic growth, and to desalinate very much-needed water," said Khalid Touqan, chairman of Jordan Atomic Energy Commission.
"The pursuit of nuclear power is of crucial importance to a country like Jordan, which imports 96 per cent of its energy at a cost of 20 per cent of its gross domestic product and which faces severe water shortages," he said, adding that the kingdom has estimated uranium oxide reserves of about 70,000 tonnes.
But Ahmad Al-Malabeh, professor of earth and environmental sciences in the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment at the Hashemite University, said: "Having such an ambitious nuclear project requires creating a functioning system for radioactive waste management, in order to avoid an environmental disaster".
Al-Malabeh said that the JAEC should have been subject to an economic feasibility study to compare it with solar power.
"They focused on the nuclear option because of the existence of significant quantities of uranium, despite the fact that Jordan is in the solar belt, which is excellent for generating solar power."
Ahmad Alkofahi, the executive director of the Jordan Environment Society, said: "The environmental societies [of Jordan] are not against initiating a nuclear reactor, but solar and wind power should be initiated in the same way, as they are much better environmentally and economically".
By. Hanan Alkiswany
Source: SciDev

lhttp://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Jordan-Moving-towards-a-Nuclear-Future.html

Thursday, December 30, 2010

N.Korea can build a nuclear bomb a year: ex US defence chief

Report: N.Korea increases flight drills despite fuel pinchSeoul (AFP) Dec 29, 2010 - A North Korean jet has crashed as the country intensified air force exercises following its attack last month on a South Korean frontline island which sent tensions soaring, a newspaper said Wednesday. A MiG fighter disappeared off radar screens last week as the impoverished communist state held unusually extensive winter flight drills, the Korea JoongAng Daily said, quoting a military source. North Korea usually keeps flight drills to a minimum because of severe fuel shortages. The paper said there had been a 150 percent increase in the number of military drills involving all three services compared to December 2009. "It shows that the North Korean military has been very tense after the attack on Yeonpyeong Island," it quoted the source as saying. A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on military intelligence matters.

The North also carried out a corps-scale live-fire drill in response to a joint live-fire exercise by South Korea's army and air force last Thursday, Yonhap news agency said earlier this week. The news agency said the North has test-fired artillery and multiple-rocket launchers five times this month alone. The Korea JoongAng Daily said there have been frequent sightings of North Korean submarines near the disputed Yellow Sea border and artillery was moved nearer to the coast. The South has staged a series of military exercises, including one with the United States, since the North shelled the island near the Yellow Sea border on November 23 and killed four people, including two civilians.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NKorea_can_build_a_nuclear_bomb_a_year_ex_US_defence_chief_999.html Tokyo (AFP) Dec 29, 2010 Former US defence chief William Perry said North Korea was capable of producing one nuclear bomb a year and that Washington should consider high-level talks to defuse tension, in an interview published Wednesday. Perry, who served as defence secretary under president Bill Clinton, told the Nikkei daily that the US government should review its policies towards North Korea and impose economic sanctions to reiterate its stance against Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.
Then, Washington should coordinate policies with Seoul and Tokyo before eventually sending a special envoy for direct talks with Pyongyang, Perry told the Nikkei.
Perry suggested former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former US senator Sam Nunn, an expert on nuclear arms reduction, as possible candidates for such talks, the Nikkei said.
The interview was released in Japanese, with no original English text immediately available.
If North Korea dedicated all of its recently unveiled uranium enrichment facility to making weapons-grade fuel, it could build one nuclear bomb a year, Perry told the paper.
Perry said he had been briefed by American scientist Siegfried Hecker, who recently toured a new uranium enrichment plant with 2,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The facility is likely designed for making fuel for a civilian reactor and not bombs, but there is no way to confirm whether North Korea has another facility to build nuclear weapons, Perry said.
The former defence chief said he still believed in diplomatic solutions to the North Korean crisis.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

UAE Pushes on With Plan for First Nuclear Reactors

ENEC seeks permission to build UAE's first reactors
Emirates Nuclear Energy submitted a license application to United Arab Emirates regulators as part of its plan to build the country's first two nuclear power plants in Braka, Abu Dhabi. The state-owned company will be working with Korea Electric Power to model the facilities after reactors constructed in South Korea. ABC News/The Associated Press

S.Korea must improve offer to win nuke deal: Turkish envoy

Seoul (AFP) Dec 27, 2010 South Korea must make an improved offer if it wants to secure a project to build a Turkish nuclear power plant, the country's ambassador to Seoul said Monday. Erdogan Iscan said negotiations that began in March effectively halted after last month's G20 summit in Seoul, when the two sides failed to settle key differences.
"The plan offered by South Korea did not meet Turkey's expectations," he told Yonhap news agency by phone. The embassy confirmed his comments.
South Korea operates 20 reactors, which generate 30 percent of its electricity needs, and is eager to export its expertise as a new growth engine for the economy.
In December 2009 a South Korean-led consortium won a 20.4 billion dollar contract to build four nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates, and Seoul hoped to cap this with a deal with Ankara.
But the ambassador told Yonhap the price of electricity was one of three or four major sticking points that held up progress, although he did not elaborate.
Iscan said Turkey has not closed the "Korean file" on the bid to build the Sinop nuclear power plant on the Black Sea coast, but has started formal negotiations with Japan.
He said Turkey cannot delay too long since rapid economic growth is causing energy demand to rise by an average four percent every year.
Turkey wants both the Sinop plant and the Akkuyu plant in the south of the country, that was won by Russia, to go into operation in 2018-2020.
Iscan said that if Seoul decides to improve its offer, Ankara will review it as a competitive bid and consider it along with the proposal made by Tokyo.

Monday, December 27, 2010

N.Korea may stage atom test to boost heir: think-tank

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/NKorea_may_stage_atom_test_to_boost_heir_think-tank_999.html Seoul (AFP) Dec 24, 2010 North Korea may carry out another atomic test next year to bolster the status of leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-Un, a Seoul state think-tank said Friday, a day after the North threatened a nuclear attack. Tensions remain high on the peninsula a month after the North bombarded a South Korean border island and killed four people including civilians.
The North may stage a third test "to demonstrate Kim Jong-Un's military prowess, to improve plutonium-based nuclear weapons and ratchet up military tensions", the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security said.
A new test is needed to improve its plutonium-based bombs using data from the second test in May 2009, the institute, which is affiliated to the foreign ministry, said in a report.
The North has been working for decades to build plutonium-based weapons and last month also disclosed a new uranium enrichment complex -- a potential new way to make bombs.
The report said the North is likely to build up its atomic arsenal next year and might test a uranium-based weapon "to maximise the shock to the outside world".
While six-party nuclear disarmament talks may well resume next year, chances of any progress are slim, it said.
The North is thought to have enough plutonium for maybe six to eight weapons but it is not known whether it can fit them to missile warheads. Nevertheless, it frequently raises the prospect of nuclear war.
On Thursday the North vowed readiness for a "sacred war" using its nuclear weapons.
"The revolutionary armed forces... are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at any time necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," said armed forces minister Kim Yong-Chun.
The North accuses the South of provoking its November 23 bombardment of Yeonpyeong island, near the disputed Yellow Sea border, by holding a firing drill there.
The South Monday staged another drill on Yeonpyeong but the North did not follow through with threats of a new and deadlier attack.
On Thursday Seoul deployed tanks, artillery and jet fighters in a show of force on the mainland.
And the South's defence ministry announced Friday that a giant Christmas tree near the North Korean border would stay lit until January 8.
The move is likely to anger Pyongyang since the date marks the birthday of Jong-Un, youngest son of leader Kim Jong-Il. The communist North sees the tree topped with a glowing cross as a provocative propaganda symbol.
The ministry said it hoped to send "a message of peace to the North" and the timing was just a coincidence.
An international think-tank urged the two Koreas to accept international arbitration to redraw the flashpoint sea border and lessen the possibility of all-out war.
The International Crisis Group, like many other analysts and the Seoul government, said the North's attacks are linked to moves to install Jong-Un as eventual successor.
They are an apparent attempt "to give the inexperienced heir some appearance of military and strategic prowess", the ICG said in a report.
"They also signal to potential rivals among North Korean elites that Kim Jong-Il is willing to take on the South to promote his son and he would therefore have no problem confronting domestic opponents."
There is "a real danger" the North will continue its attacks, it said.
The South's military, accused of a feeble response to last month's attack, has vowed to hit back harder next time by using air power.
The North offered apparent nuclear concessions to US politician Bill Richardson, who ended a visit to Pyongyang this week.
Richardson said it agreed to readmit UN atomic inspectors and negotiate the sale of nuclear fuel rods to a third party.
The New Mexico governor said Thursday a resumption of six-nation talks -- grouping the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan -- could help prevent a new escalation of tensions.
If "they don't react militarily again to this recent drill, then maybe the time has come for the six-party talks," he told CNN, referring to the South Korean exercise staged Thursday.
The North's news agency blamed the United States for the "alarming developments" on the peninsula this year.
It said Washington had orchestrated clashes to test a new military alliance it was forging with Japan and South Korea "to hold hegemony in the Asia-Pacific".

S. Korea's first nuclear repository goes into operation

Nuclear-waste repository goes online in South Korea
Korea Radioactive Waste Management started up its nuclear-waste repository in Gyeongju, South Korea, by accepting the first load of intermediate-level waste from the Uljin plant. "The waste can be held safely in the temporary holding area until the underground facility is completed in late 2012," the company said. The Korea Herald (Seoul)/Yonhap News Agency (South Korea)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Japan, S.Korea seal civilian nuclear pact

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Japan_SKorea_seal_civilian_nuclear_pact_999.html Tokyo (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 Japan and South Korea sealed a civilian nuclear pact on Monday, paving the way for the Asian neighbours to share nuclear-power technologies and equipment, Japan's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and South Korean ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-Hyun signed the agreement in Tokyo, the ministry said in a statement.
"Japan and South Korea are good partners to promote peaceful use of nuclear power while ensuring nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear energy safety and security," Maehara told the ambassador, quoted in the statement.
Japan and South Korea have been rivals in international biddings for nuclear power plants in emerging nations.
In October Japan secured a contract for building two nuclear reactors in Vietnam while South Korea won a deal in December to build four reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
But under the pact, which will take effect after parliaments of both countries endorse it, mainly Japanese firms with a longer history of developing nuclear power plants are expected to start exporting technologies and equipment to South Korea.
Japan, which was eclipsed this year by China as Asia's biggest economy and has a shrinking population because of its low birth rate, is searching for new markets to export infrastructure technologies, including power plants.
Japan has concluded a bilateral nuclear energy pact with six countries and the European Union while South Korea has a similar deal with 14 states, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

Monday, December 20, 2010

CNN: North Korea agrees to return of UN nuclear inspectors

N.Korea says S.Korea, US trying to spark warSeoul (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 - North Korea Monday accused the United States and South Korean "puppet warmongers" of pushing the peninsula to the brink of war, as Seoul prepared to hold a live-fire drill despite Pyongyang's threat of retaliation. "It is a vital task for defusing the ever-increasing danger of a war and protecting the nation's destiny to avert a war and defend peace," said ruling communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, referring to Koreans on both sides of the border. The North last month bombarded Yeonpyeong island near the contested Yellow Sea border, killing two marines and two civilians and damaging dozens of homes.

It says it acted in response to a South Korean artillery drill, and has vowed to hit back harder if a new exercise is held on the island this week. The response "will be deadlier than what was made on November 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike", its military said Friday. Rodong Sinmun Monday repeated allegations that the South had provoked last month's shelling. "Only when all the Koreans get united as one and wage a bold struggle for defending peace against war, can they surely check and frustrate the moves of outside forces and the puppet warmongers to provoke a new war," it said.

S.Korea launches crackdown on illegal Chinese fishingSeoul (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 - South Korea's coastguard Monday announced a new crackdown on illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea following a deadly clash with Chinese fishermen last week. The three-day exercise involves 18 ships, two helicopters and about 200 personnel, a coastguard spokesman told AFP. "We are taking strong steps as illegal fishing by Chinese boats is rampant despite our persistent crackdowns," he said. A 63-tonne Chinese boat capsized after ramming into a 3,000-tonne South Korean coastguard ship Saturday, leaving one Chinese crew member dead and another missing. Eight other Chinese fishermen were rescued, five of them by nearby Chinese boats.

"Three fishermen rescued by our side are in our custody for questioning," the spokesman said. He said the Chinese crew brandished iron pipes, clubs and shovels when two South Korean small boats from the 3,000-tonne ship approached their trawler, injuring four officers. The trawler then suddenly rammed into the coastguard ship and capsized, causing 10 Chinese sailors to fall into the sea, he said. The trawler's 28-year-old captain was in a coma after the incident and died in hospital. Illegal fishing by Chinese vessels is common in South Korean waters. The coastguard said 332 Chinese boats were caught last year. In 2008 a South Korean officer drowned while trying to inspect a Chinese boat, and 10 officers have been injured this year.

Seoul (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 North Korea has agreed with US troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of UN nuclear inspectors as part of a package of measures to ease tensions on the peninsula, CNN reported Monday. CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer, who is travelling with Richardson in Pyongyang, said the North Koreans had agreed to let inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency go back to its Yongbyon nuclear facility.
They had also agreed to allow fuel rods for the enrichment of uranium to be shipped to an outside country, and to the creation of a military commission and hotline between the two Koreas and the United States, Blitzer said.
A veteran negotiator with the reclusive communist state, New Mexico Governor Richardson was due to brief reporters in Beijing later Monday after concluding his five-day visit to Pyongyang.
The former US ambassador to the UN was said by Blitzer to be "disappointed" at the UN Security Council's failure late Sunday to agree a statement on the Korean situation.
Richardson believed that such a statement would have given the South Koreans "political cover" to cancel a planned live-fire military exercise on a flashpoint border island bombarded by North Korea last month, Blitzer said.
North Korea in April 2009 pulled out of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks and ordered US and IAEA nuclear inspectors out of the country, after the UN Security Council condemned Pyongyang for an April 5 rocket launch.
It staged its second nuclear test a month later.
Tensions have soared anew since last month's North Korean artillery attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, which killed four people including civilians and damaged dozens of homes.
The South's forces were due to start the live-fire drill on Yeonpyeong later Monday, despite North Korean threats of deadly retaliation. But heavy fog had caused the drill to be delayed, South Korean officials said.
Richardson had urged top North Korean leaders to show "maximum restraint" over the planned South Korean drills.
In Pyongyang over the weekend, Richardson met top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan and Major General Pak Rim-Su, who leads North Korean forces along the tense border with the South.
Pak told Richardson that North Korea had recovered the remains of several hundred US servicemen killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War and offered to help secure their return to the United States, CNN said.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

North Korea 'Enriching Weapons-Grade Uranium At A Number Of Sites' -- The Telegraph

North Korea has been enriching potentially weapons-grade uranium at up to four sites outside its main nuclear complex, South Korean intelligence has claimed.

The report of the secret additional enrichment facilities outside its Yongbon complex, first published by a South Korean newspaper, was confirmed by Seoul's foreign minister Kim Sung-hwan on Tuesday.

"It is a report based on what is still intelligence and let me just say that we have been following this issue for some time," Mr Kim said.

Read more ....http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8201078/North-Korea-enriching-weapons-grade-uranium-at-a-number-of-sites.html

Thursday, December 9, 2010

North Korea’s Newest Weapon: Nuke Torpedo?

Just when you thought it was safe to take a dip in the West Sea, a report from North Korean dissidents claims that Pyongyang has already developed sea-borne nuclear weapons.
If you read Korean, you can find their report here, but if not, Bill Gertz at the Washington Times has the gist. Citing a Pyongyang government official, the defectors claim that in March 2009, North Korean military units called “Thunder” and “Lightning” began technical nuclear torpedo and mine research to blunt the superiority of U.S. and South Korean naval weaponry. They claim that the “nuclear mines are technologically at a stage of completion, and the plan [is] to finish [developing] nuclear torpedoes by 2012.” North Korea is believed to have fewer than ten nuclear bombs.
Now the caveats. U.S. intelligence officials have yet to check out the claim, Gertz reports, and Gertz’s reporting can be rather alarmist about east-Asian threats. The North’s record at testing nuclear weapons is spotty at best. Defectors have been known to inflate the threat from their home regimes. According to the defectors, one of the reasons Pyongyang wants the deep-sea nukes is to deter the U.S. from interfering in a potential Korean war. But it hasn’t boasted about developing them — even as U.S. warships recently drilled with the South Koreans after the North’s artillery attack three weeks ago, and the top U.S. military officer just left Kim Jong-il’s backyard on a trip to bolster the anti-Nork coalition. Hard to see how the U.S. could be deterred by something it doesn’t know about.

Still, over at the U.S. Naval Institute’s blog, Raymond Pritchett observes that a recent WikiLeaked cable cited a Chinese diplomat’s claim that Pyongyang kept “critical information about secret underwater nuclear facilities located on North Korea’s coast” hidden from Kim’s big Chinese patron. (Although that cable is from 2008, from 2008, seemingly before the supposed launch of the North’s nuke torpedo and mine program.)
These weapons are familiar to the U.S. Starting in the 1960s, its subs carried the Mark 45 and Mark 48 nuclear torpedoes, 19-foot-long weapons designed to take out Soviet nuclear subs with 11-kiloton yields. Moscow’s family of countermeasures, known as the Type 53-68 HWT, had 20-kiloton yields. Gertz notes that the Chinese navy has been intrigued by nuclear torpedoes lately, leading him to collect this awesome quote from defense wonk Richard Fisher: “China’s strategy is simply to have us negotiate with North Korea and Iran until its nuclear weapons start to kill us.”
OK then. It’s possible we may get some clarity on the alleged nuclear torpedo and mine programs. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a frequent diplomatic backchannel to the North Koreans, is headed to Pyongyang at “the invitation of key people in the nuclear crowd over there,” according to the Washington Post Presumably they’ll want to talk about the North’s recent declaration of a new uranium-enrichment facility, but it’s the perfect opportunity to make additional nuclear boasts.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

S.Korea to build 14 new nuclear reactors by 2024

Image via Wikipediahttp://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/SKorea_to_build_14_new_nuclear_reactors_by_2024_999.html Seoul (AFP) Dec 7, 2010 South Korea said Tuesday it plans to build 14 new nuclear reactors by 2024 to help meet growing energy needs and cut dependence on fossil fuel. South Korea, which currently has 20 operational nuclear reactors, will build 14 new facilities to make atomic power the biggest source of energy by 2024, state-run Korea Power Exchange said.
As a result, nuclear energy will provide 48.5 percent of the nation's energy consumption by the target year from the current 32 percent, KPE said in a long-term national energy development plan.
Coal is currently the biggest source of energy in South Korea that meets 42 percent of the nation's energy needs.
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power will also provide 8.9 percent of the nation's energy needs by 2024 compared with the current 1.3 percent, it said.
Asia's fourth-largest economy imports 97 percent of its energy needs from overseas and has moved to cut dependence on fossil fuels and to diversify energy sources.
In October Seoul unveiled a five-year plan to spend 36 billion dollars developing renewable energy as its next economic growth engine, with a goal to become one of the world's five top players in the sector.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Chinese group offers speedy nuclear plant

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation says the commissioning of new nuclear power could be pushed forward to 2020.

CHINA’s state-owned energy group, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation (CGNPC), said on Friday that the commissioning of new nuclear power could be pushed forward to 2020, instead of the 2023 deadline proposed in the Department of Energy’s second integrated resource plan (IRP2010).

An earlier commissioning of new power will require a quick decision on the nuclear programme.

The IRP2010 makes provision for an additional 9500MW of nuclear power by 2030. According to the plan, which directs the expansion of electricity supply over the next 20 years, new nuclear capacity can come on stream in 2023.

But in a presentation at the d epartment’s hearings on IRP2010, CGNPC said the first new nuclear power plant could come on line in 2020, instead of 2023.

The government is expected to make a decision on the nuclear programme next year once the current IRP process is completed. The government has said that preparatory work must commence more than 12 years before a single watt of power is produced from a new nuclear plant.

This makes commissioning of new capacity by 2020 unlikely.

One of the presenters at Friday’s hearings, Paul White of the Fossil Fuel Foundation, said there was a concern that 12- 13 years was not a "long enough lead time" for the ordering, design, supply, construction and commissioning of a plant.

CGNPC said nuclear power was a practical way to meet SA’s energy demand and was "the most mature and reliable base-load energy option, with the least life-cycle cost".

Paul Eardley-Taylor, head of energy, utilities and infrastructure coverage at Standard Bank , said nuclear providers such as CGNPC and South Korea’s state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation could build nuclear plants at lower engineering, procurement and construction costs.More at:http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=128640

Friday, December 3, 2010

U.S. Sees Greater North Korea Nuclear Threat

By JAY SOLOMON

VIENNA—The Obama administration told the United Nations nuclear watchdog that North Korea likely has built more than one uranium-enrichment facility, significantly raising the proliferation threat posed by the secretive communist state.
U.S. and European officials are pressing the International Atomic Energy Agency to better scrutinize Pyongyang's potential role in sharing its nuclear technologies with third countries. But the U.N. agency's ability to monitor Pyongyang is limited: North Korea kicked out the IAEA's inspectors in 2009.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704377004575650960600657360.html

Sunday, November 28, 2010

US-S.Korea naval exercises begin after Pyongyang warning

The United States and South Korea Sunday mounted a major show of naval strength to deter North Korea following its deadly shelling attack, despite Pyongyang's warning of unpredictable consequences. The four-day exercise involving around a dozen warships including a US aircraft carrier began at 8:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday), Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
It started five days after the North stunned the world by launching a barrage of shells and rockets at a South Korean border island, killing two marines and two civilians and setting homes and forests ablaze.
Washington insists that the drill -- which has been criticised by Beijing -- is defensive in nature and was planned long before last week's attack, but says it is intended to send a message of deterrence to the North.
The drill involving at least 11 major warships and thousands of service personnel was taking place off South Korea's southwest coast, far from the flashpoint inter-Korean border, according to coordinates given by Seoul officials.
"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences," the North's official news agency said Saturday, in the latest of a series of warnings following Tuesday's bombardment.
The drill is one of a series announced in May, after a Seoul-led multinational investigation found overwhelming evidence that a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship earlier in the year.
That incident, which cost 46 lives, sparked anger in the South. But Tuesday's bombardment -- the first time the South's civilian areas have been shelled since the 1950-53 war -- was seen as more shocking.
The North claims it acted in retaliation to a South Korean firing drill in what it regards as its own waters around the contested border.
On Saturday it said the two civilian deaths were "if true... very regrettable".
But it also charged that civilians on Yeonpyeong island -- which is home to a marine base -- had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.
Pyongyang has warned that the new war games mean the peninsula "is inching closer to the brink of war". It regularly uses such rhetoric and it was unclear whether it would try to disrupt the drill in any way.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak warned Saturday "there is a possibility that North Korea might commit wayward acts during the exercise," according to his spokesman.
Lee has come under pressure to take a tougher line against the North after the military's counter-fire last week was seen as feeble. His defence minister quit last Thursday to take responsibility.
"The intensity of the (naval) exercise will be greater than had been planned," Yonhap news agency quoted a Seoul military source as saying.
"Participating forces will carry out firing and bombing drills."
The 97,000-ton carrier George Washington can carry about 75 aircraft on its 1.8 hectare (4.5 acre) flight deck and has a crew of 5,500.
Also taking part on the US side was an embarked carrier air wing and vessels the USS Cowpens, Lassen, Stethem and Fitzgerald, according to information provided earlier.
Six South Korean warships, including a 7,600-ton Aegis-class destroyer, two 4,500-ton destroyers and frigates, as well as anti-submarine aircraft were joining the drill, a JSC spokesman said.
The drill will also involve a high-flying US J-STARS (joint surveillance and target attack system) surveillance aircraft to monitor the North's military moves, Yonhap reported.
"J-STARS has been deployed to the drill today... the aircraft will monitor (potential) ground targets of the North Korean military," it quoted a senior government official as saying. The JCS declined to confirm the report.
The exercise has raised tensions between Washington and Beijing, which regards the Yellow Sea as its backyard and has refrained from condemning its ally Pyongyang over Tuesday's attack.
Washington has stressed that the manoeuvres are not aimed against China, which hosts stalled six-party talks seeking an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
China's state councillor Dai Bingguo travelled to Seoul on Saturday and held talks with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan.
He will meet President Lee later Sunday, a presidential spokeswoman said without giving details.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held phone talks on Saturday with his Japanese and Russian counterparts.http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US-SKorea_naval_exercises_begin_after_Pyongyang_warning_999.html

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

US lawmakers slam China over North Korea

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_lawmakers_slam_China_over_North_Korea_999.html Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 US lawmakers issued hawkish calls on China to do more to restrain "reckless" North Korea Tuesday, charging the sudden peninsular crisis showed that decades of 'appeasing' Pyongyang had failed. After the nuclear-armed state's deadly artillery barrage on a South Korean island, Republicans demanded more pressure on Beijing from the White House, which has already had limited results in pressing China on its currency.
"Two decades worth of attempts to appease this North Korean regime have failed, and further attempts to do so will meet with the same result," said Senator John McCain, the defeated 2008 Republican presidential candidate.
"The Chinese government has perhaps the most influence on North Korea, and for the sake of regional security and stability, I urge China to play a more direct and responsible role in changing North Korea's reckless behavior."
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming Republican chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee, blasted Obama for being "too weak" on North Korea, and also had harsh words for Beijing.
"China, which wields significant influence over North Korea, must stop enabling the regime and join responsible nations in sending an unequivocal message to Pyongyang: abandon your aggressive agenda now," she said.
The committee's current Democratic chairman also singled out Beijing, which US observers see as negligent in using diplomatic influence on North Korea as one of the isolated state's few economic partners.
"I especially urge China to play a more active role in persuading North Korea to stop its belligerence," congressman Howard Berman said.
"China should immediately suspend economic and energy assistance to show Pyongyang that its aggression has consequences."
Republican Senator Sam Brownback, an outspoken critic of human rights violations in North Korea, was more scathing.
"China should be embarrassed that its policy with North Korea is allowing the east Asian region to become destabilized."
Tuesday's congressional reaction was likely calculated as much to hike pressure on the Obama administration for a robust response to North Korea's behavior as motivated by any expectation that it would mould Chinese policy.
But the administration found itself in a delicate situation, with few obvious options to respond to Pyongyang's assault that would not inflame a highly dangerous situation.
The administration was already under pressure over revelations about Pyongyang's nuclear program, with apparent confirmation at the weekend from a US scientist that it had an advanced uranium enrichment plant.
Any attempt to further isolate and censure North Korea through the UN Security Council would require China's acquiescence as a permanent member, so a sharp administration critique of Beijing may prove counterproductive.
US policymakers must also confront the fact -- as a recent attempt to challenge Chinese currency policy showed at the G20 summit -- that Washington's current diplomatic and political leverage over China is limited.
Also, China's overriding goal may be ensuring stability in the North Korean regime during a leadership transition, rather than sharing US and South Korean concern over Pyongyang's military posture and nuclear program.
Publicly, at least, there was no sign of more US pressure on China over Pyongyang Tuesday, as the administration pledged to work slowly through the six-party process, hosted by Beijing, to tackle the latest "provocation."
"I think that's really, frankly, the best way ... by presenting a unified, coherent front to North Korea, to make them aware of their isolation," said Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman.
A senior US official did note that Beijing had a "relationship with North Korea that could be constructive, so we're committed to working with them."
Stephen Bosworth, the US envoy on North Korea in Beijing, said he discussed the assault on the island with Chinese officials and both sides wanted to see "restraint."
The latest North Korean military action follows the sinking of the South Korean navy ship Cheonan in March, which Washington and its allies blamed on Pyongyang.
But Bruce Klingner, a former CIA expert on North Korea now with the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, told reporters that China was "part of the problem rather than the solution."
"One of the things that President Obama needs to do is press China to act in a responsible manner ... and to use the leverage that Beijing has with Pyongyang to get them to abide by their denuclearization commitment," he said.

US: too early for military action after North Korea assault

N.Korean attack related to succession: analystLondon (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 - North Korea's artillery attack on South Korea is likely linked to the eventual power transfer from leader Kim Jong-Il to his youngest son, a leading analyst said Tuesday. Mark Fitzpatrick, a fellow of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and formerly a senior official at the US State Department, said however that it was unlikely to lead to full-scale conflict. "It's hard not to draw the conclusion that this, like the Cheonan sinking, was related to the succession," Fitzpatrick told AFP, referring to a South Korean warship in March that Seoul said was hit by a North Korean torpedo.

Both incidents were ways to give North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-Un "some accomplishments," he said. "He has had little time to do anything at age 27, but given a general's title the North would like to gird him with some military victories and this is one that will surely be ascribed to his military leadership," he added. North Korea was, however, also trying to force South Korea back into talks on the disputed Yellow Sea border, said Fitzpatrick, the senior fellow for non-proliferation at IISS and ex-former US deputy assistant secretary of state. "One reason North Korea took this provocative step is to get the South's attention, to say: 'Look, unless you're willing to negotiate on this line of demarcation, you're going to draw military consequences,'" he said.

World powers condemned Tuesday's attack on Yeonpyeong island near the Yellow Sea border, which killed two marines, but nuclear-armed North Korea accused South Korea of firing first. Fitzpatrick said the clash was a "serious escalation" in tensions, especially after North Korea's disclosure at the weekend of an apparently operational uranium enrichment plant. But he added: "I don't think it will turn into a full-scale war, South Korea will be very careful not to escalate its response." Seoul would, though, seek diplomatic responses -- even though they may have no lasting effect on changing Pyongyang's thinking. They would include "responding diplomatically through the United Nations, working with the United States to get China to tighten up implementation of previous Security Council measures," he said.

by Staff Writers Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 The United States said Tuesday it was too early to consider a military response to North Korea's attack on a South Korean island, while President Barack Obama was "outraged" by the deadly assault. Obama was awakened before dawn with news of one of the worst border crises in 60 years and the White House immediately demanded Pyongyang respect an Armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean war.
The US leader, who visited Seoul this month, was expected to speak to South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak shortly.
US envoy on North Korea Stephen Bosworth, who was in Beijing, meanwhile said the United States and key regional player China agreed on the need for restraint, after he discussed the Yellow Sea incident with Chinese officials.
The Pentagon was closely monitoring the latest flashpoint with the nuclear-armed Stalinist state, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke by phone with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young, officials said.
"At this point it's premature to say that we're considering any action," spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters.
He said no additional US forces had been deployed to the region as a result of the North Korean artillery barrage.
"We're still monitoring the situation and talking with our allies," Lapan said, adding that Washington was "mindful" of which actions might exacerbate or cool tensions on the peninsula.
Obama, woken by his national security advisor Tom Donilon at 3:55 am (0855 GMT) as the crisis broke, left as planned on a trip with Vice President Joe Biden to a Chrysler auto plant in the state of Indiana.
White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One that though Obama would speak with Lee, there were currently no plans for him to make an on-camera statement.
"The president is outraged by this action. We stand shoulder to shoulder with South Korea," Burton said.
In an early morning statement, White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs said Washington was in close and continuing contact with its ally South Korea after the attack on Yeonpyeong island, which killed two South Korean marines.
"The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement," Gibbs said.
"The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement."
Officials appeared to be taking care not to adopt any actions that could further inflame the situation, or reward Pyongyang's latest provocation, following a long showdown over its nuclear program.
Mindful of difficulties in dealing with North Korea's volatile leadership amid an apparent political succession, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told MSNBC the Pyongyang regime was "extremely unpredictable."
"They do things you could not possibly have predicted in a rational world," Morrell said.
Bosworth meanwhile said the shelling came up "in my conversation with the Chinese and we both share the view that such conflict is very undesirable and expressed firmly the desire that restraint be exercised."
China is seen as the only state which has any influence on Pyongyang, and Washington has in the past exerted behind-the-scenes pressure on Beijing to press North Korea to avoid inflammatory actions.