China voices concern over Korean peninsula

NUKEWARS

Czech PM defers ratification of US missile shield
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said his government was deferring a vote on a controversial US missile shield due on Tuesday in parliament amid fears that it could be rejected. "The government has decided to withdraw the two pacts with the United States on setting up a radar station on Czech soil," he said in a brief statement on state television. The treaty was due to be ratified in parliament's lower house. "That is not to say that we will reject the process of ratification because we can re-introduce it in the house whenever we want," he said. Prague and Washington last year signed two deals for the installment of a missile radar southwest of Prague that would link to two other facilities in Poland. Topolanek has backed the project since he came to power in 2006 but several Czech politicians are worried that Washington may re-think the plan under the new administration of President Barack Obama. Obama said during his election campaign that he would go ahead with the proposal only if the shield was financially viable and the technology up to speed. To take effect, the shield project must be ratified by both houses of the Czech parliament and signed by the president. The upper house Senate has already backed the project. The centre-right coalition does not have adequate numbers in the lower house to ensure the smooth passage of the treaty.

NKorean premier arrives in China amid missile tensions
North Korean Premier Kim Yong-Il arrived in Beijing on Tuesday as his Stalinist nation prepared for a satellite launch that is widely suspected to be a cover for a ballistic missile test. Kim arrived Tuesday morning and will meet with top Chinese leaders during his five-day visit, which comes as their nations celebrate the 60th anniversary of bilateral ties, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. Much world attention is focused on North Korea after it announced last week it planned to launch a communications satellite between April 4-8. Washington and Seoul say the launch is to test a missile that could theoretically reach Alaska, an act that would be in defiance of a United Nations resolution. In recent diplomatic exchanges, US and Japanese officials have said that China is opposed to the missile launch, but Beijing has not publicly expressed any direct opposition. China is one of North Korea's closest allies and most important trading partners. It is also host of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programmes, which began in 2003 but have been stalled since December last year. Under a landmark deal reached through the talks in 2007, North Korea agreed to scrap its programmes in exchange for badly needed energy aid and diplomatic concessions. But the talks, also involving the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan, became deadlocked when North Korea would not agree on how its disarmament moves would be verified. The talks also failed to stop North Korea from conducting an atomic test in October 2006.

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) March 17, 2009
China voiced its concern Tuesday over what it said was an increasingly uncertain situation on the Korean peninsula, where close ally North Korea is pushing ahead with plans for a rocket launch.

China's foreign ministry made its strongest public comments on the recent spike in tensions surrounding North Korea shortly after the isolated nation's premier, Kim Yong-Il, landed in Beijing for a five-day visit.

While the North insists that the launch, scheduled for April 4-8, is for a communications satellite, the United States believes the real aim is to test a long-range ballistic missile that could, in theory, reach Alaska.

"At present, the situation on the Korean peninsula is rather complicated with an increasing number of uncertain factors," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.

"We express concern over this."

Qin was responding to a question about China's position on the launch as well as stalled six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the communist nation's nuclear programmes.

China is regarded as having influence on North Korea because it is one of its closest allies and most important trading partners, as well as being chair of the nuclear negotiations.

Kim was due to meet with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao during his trip, which both sides have promoted as part of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of relations between the northeast Asian neighbours.

However, they have steered clear of the security issues when discussing the reason for Kim's trip.

North Korea has resisted pressure from the United States and its allies to call off the rocket launch and warned that any attempt to shoot it down would be regarded as an act of war.

At the same time, it has also stepped up its rhetoric against South Korea, even sporadically closing off access to a key joint industrial complex.

Despite Qin's comments, analysts said China was unlikely to pressure North Korea too heavily over the rocket launch and the nuclear talks during Kim's trip.

"The Chinese have more influence (on Pyongyang) than anyone else, but the North Koreans are going to do what they want to do," said Daniel Pinkston, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"The Chinese know that if they push too hard against the North Koreans and take very punitive actions, then the six-party talks could collapse and North Korea could... reconstitute their nuclear programme."

Under a landmark deal reached by negotiators in 2007, the North agreed to dismantle its nuclear programmes in exchange for badly needed energy aid and diplomatic concessions.

But the talks, which also group the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan, broke down in December amid disagreement on how disarmament would be verified.

The negotiations had previously failed to stop North Korea from conducting its first atomic weapons test in October 2006.

Jing-dong Yuan, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the US-based Monterey Institute of International Studies, agreed the rocket launch was unlikely to feature high on this week's agenda.

He said that even if China wanted to exert pressure on North Korea to stop it going ahead with a test, it would be reluctant to use heavy-handed pressure that could jeopardise political stability in Pyongyang.

"I am not sure if China has any significant level of influence over North Korea," he said.

"Although Beijing can do things that can in turn hurt North Korea, given the latter's growing dependence on Chinese economic assistance... inflicting pains on North Korea is not cost-free for Beijing, from both the diplomatic and stability perspectives."

Kim flew from Beijing to the eastern province of Shandong Tuesday, where over the next two days he was due to meet local leaders and visit the birthplace of Confucius, according to the China News Service.

He will then return to Beijing, to attend the celebrations marking the anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties, state news agency Xinhua reported.

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NUKEWARS

NKorea vows to conduct nuclear test unless UN apologises

Seoul (AFP) April 29, 2009
North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct a second nuclear test unless the United Nations apologises for condemning its rocket launch, sharply raising the stakes in the dispute over its weapons programmes.

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