(AP) sourced from The NZ Herald
4:00AM Wednesday Feb 25, 2009
SEOUL - North Korea has confirmed that it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbours and the United States suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile.
The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile - one capable of reaching the US - within a week, in violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
North Korea asserted last week that it bears the right to "space development" - words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test. In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
"Full-fledged preparations are under way to launch the pilot communications satellite Kwangmyong-song No. 2" at a launch site in Hwadae in the northeast, the North's agency said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. The report did not say when the launch would take place.
Intelligence officials reported brisk personnel and vehicle activity at the Hwadae launch site yesterday. However, the North has not yet placed the missile on a launch pad, the report said. After mounting the missile, it would take five to seven days to fuel the rocket, experts say.
Hwadae is believed to be the launch site for North Korea's longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which has the capability of reaching Alaska. Reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range: the US West coast.
Analysts have warned for weeks that the North may fire a missile to send a strong signal to South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, who took office a year ago today with a hardline policy on North Korea, and to US President Barack Obama.
North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under a UN Security Council resolution adopted after the North's first-ever nuclear test in 2006. South Korea, Japan and the United States have warned Pyongyang not to fire a missile.
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the North to stop its "provocative actions", saying a missile test would "be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward".
Pyongyang's efforts to make a case for a space programme could be an attempt to avoid international condemnation and sanctions.
But South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan has stressed that missiles and satellites differ only in payload, and said any launch - whether a satellite or a missile - would be a breach of the UN resolution.
PYONGYANG'S ARSENAL
Taepodong-2: North Korea's most advanced ballistic missile. Three-stage rocket with a potential range of more than 6700km. July 2006 attempt to test-fire missile failed, with rocket fizzling soon after takeoff.
Advanced Taepodong-2: North is believed to be developing advanced version of Taepodong-2 capable of striking west coast of United States. Planned satellite launch could disguise test of advanced Taepodong-2, experts say.
New missile: North Korea has fielded a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to South Korea's Defence Ministry. A Missile with range of at least 3000km would put Guam, northern Australia, most of Russia and India within striking distance.
Taepodong-1: Two-stage, long-range missile has estimated range of 2500km, twice as far as Nodong missile. North Korea is believed to have test-launched missile in August 1998, calling it a satellite. Second stage landed in the waters off Japan's east coast.
Nodong: Japan is likely target of missile with range of about 1300km.
Scud: South Korea is potential target of Scuds with range of up to 500km.
TAEPODONG-2:
POSSIBLE RANGE
* Seoul, South Korea - 195km from Pyongyang
* Beijing, China - 810km
* Tokyo, Japan - 1290km
* Bangkok, Thailand - 3740km
* New Delhi, India - 4575km
* Singapore - 4740km
* Jakarta, Indonesia - 5385km
* Darwin, Australia - 5745km
* Alaska, United States - 5995km
MISSILE MAXIMUM ESTIMATED RANGE OF 6700KM
* Perth, Australia - 7950km
* Sydney, Australia - 8515km
* Los Angeles, US - 9550km
* Auckland - 9810km
- AP
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About Me
- Owen McCaffrey
- I am 32 years old. I work at Kyungnam University in South Korea and I have gained my MA in Linguistics from Waikato University.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Call to relax Guantanamo regime
BBC News Channel
Monday, 23 February 2009
A US defence department review of conditions at Guantanamo Bay detention camp has called for an easing of the isolation of prisoners there.
The Pentagon report says inmates should be allowed more social interaction and opportunities for recreation. It comes as new US Attorney General Eric Holder pays his first visit to the controversial facility in Cuba. Last month, President Barack Obama ordered the Guantanamo Bay camp to be closed within one year.
About 250 prisoners are still held there, nearly all without charge. Among them was a UK inmates, who returned from the camp to Britain earlier on Monday. Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 30, was held in Guantanamo for more than four years and says he was tortured. He became the first Guantanamo prisoner released since Barack Obama took office.
Humane treatment
The report, by Adm Patrick M Walsh, says conditions at the camp comply with the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners. However, it recommends allowing more socialisation among prisoners, many of whom are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day. Such interaction "is essential to maintain humane treatment over time", the report says. "In our opinion, the key to socialisation is providing more human-to-human contact, recreation opportunities with several detainees together, intellectual stimulation, and group prayer," AFP news agency cited the report as saying.
Mr Holder is being briefed on the detainees and the charges they were facing before military trials were halted last month. The attorney general is making his visit away from the media glares, the BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says. It comes as the Obama administration wrestles with the legal, practical and security implications of its pledge to shut Guantanamo, he adds.
To read the original article click here
Monday, 23 February 2009
A US defence department review of conditions at Guantanamo Bay detention camp has called for an easing of the isolation of prisoners there.
The Pentagon report says inmates should be allowed more social interaction and opportunities for recreation. It comes as new US Attorney General Eric Holder pays his first visit to the controversial facility in Cuba. Last month, President Barack Obama ordered the Guantanamo Bay camp to be closed within one year.
About 250 prisoners are still held there, nearly all without charge. Among them was a UK inmates, who returned from the camp to Britain earlier on Monday. Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 30, was held in Guantanamo for more than four years and says he was tortured. He became the first Guantanamo prisoner released since Barack Obama took office.
Humane treatment
The report, by Adm Patrick M Walsh, says conditions at the camp comply with the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners. However, it recommends allowing more socialisation among prisoners, many of whom are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day. Such interaction "is essential to maintain humane treatment over time", the report says. "In our opinion, the key to socialisation is providing more human-to-human contact, recreation opportunities with several detainees together, intellectual stimulation, and group prayer," AFP news agency cited the report as saying.
Mr Holder is being briefed on the detainees and the charges they were facing before military trials were halted last month. The attorney general is making his visit away from the media glares, the BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says. It comes as the Obama administration wrestles with the legal, practical and security implications of its pledge to shut Guantanamo, he adds.
To read the original article click here
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Australia fire deaths rise to 200
BBC News Channel
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Australia has launched its biggest ever arson investigation into the fires.
The number of people who have perished in Australia's bushfires has reached 200 and will rise further, police say. The announcement came after fire investigators discovered 11 more bodies in and around the town of Kinglake, in south-east Victoria state. More than 1,800 homes were destroyed and 7,500 people displaced by the hundreds of fires that swept the state. The updated death toll came as Disaster Victim Identification teams examined some of the areas worst-hit by fires for the first time.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said some of the victims would probably never be identified. "It is a very difficult process in some cases to actually be able to determine whether the remains are human remains or not," he was quoted by ABC as saying. "As to what the final number's going to get to I think we should wait and let it unfold over the next week or 10 days" Sunday has been announced as a national day of mourning for all victims of the bushfires.
Police suspect at least two of the fires were set deliberately, and have charged one man with arson. On Monday a Melbourne court named the suspect as Brendan Sokaluk - despite fears for his safety prompted by public fury over the blaze. Prosecutors allege that the 39-year-old deliberately set a fire in Churchill, Victoria, in which 11 people died. He is facing charges of 'arson causing death' and of intentionally starting a bushfire. He faces a maximum 25-year sentence for the first charge, and 15 years for the second.
Meanwhile, in the north of the country, major flooding caused by heavy rains has cut off towns along Australia's east coast. Parts of New South Wales were declared a natural disaster area on Tuesday after high waters isolated thousands of people. Much of Queensland state has been under water for weeks as a result of the worst flooding in three decades, with more rain forecast. Emergency officials said the cost of the damage there would exceed A$210m ($135m; £94m).
To read the original article click here
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Australia has launched its biggest ever arson investigation into the fires.
The number of people who have perished in Australia's bushfires has reached 200 and will rise further, police say. The announcement came after fire investigators discovered 11 more bodies in and around the town of Kinglake, in south-east Victoria state. More than 1,800 homes were destroyed and 7,500 people displaced by the hundreds of fires that swept the state. The updated death toll came as Disaster Victim Identification teams examined some of the areas worst-hit by fires for the first time.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said some of the victims would probably never be identified. "It is a very difficult process in some cases to actually be able to determine whether the remains are human remains or not," he was quoted by ABC as saying. "As to what the final number's going to get to I think we should wait and let it unfold over the next week or 10 days" Sunday has been announced as a national day of mourning for all victims of the bushfires.
Police suspect at least two of the fires were set deliberately, and have charged one man with arson. On Monday a Melbourne court named the suspect as Brendan Sokaluk - despite fears for his safety prompted by public fury over the blaze. Prosecutors allege that the 39-year-old deliberately set a fire in Churchill, Victoria, in which 11 people died. He is facing charges of 'arson causing death' and of intentionally starting a bushfire. He faces a maximum 25-year sentence for the first charge, and 15 years for the second.
Meanwhile, in the north of the country, major flooding caused by heavy rains has cut off towns along Australia's east coast. Parts of New South Wales were declared a natural disaster area on Tuesday after high waters isolated thousands of people. Much of Queensland state has been under water for weeks as a result of the worst flooding in three decades, with more rain forecast. Emergency officials said the cost of the damage there would exceed A$210m ($135m; £94m).
To read the original article click here
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