IRA dissidents burn cars, block Belfast roads

DUBLIN – Suspected IRA dissidents and their supporters hijacked cars Monday in working-class Catholic areas of Northern Ireland in a coordinated effort to block roads and threaten police stations, police said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was receiving a wave of reports of vehicles being hijacked by masked gunmen in several parts of Belfast and in the Kilwilkie district of Lurgan, a power base for Irish Republican Army dissidents southwest of Belfast.
Some vehicles were being set on fire in roads to disrupt traffic at rush hour, while others were abandoned near four Belfast police stations and on Northern Ireland's major motorway near Lurgan.
Police said they were treating all the abandoned vehicles as potential car bombs, although they cautioned this was unlikely. They urged motorists to avoid Kilwilkie and parts of Catholic west Belfast entirely.
Monday's upheaval came at the end of a month in which IRA dissidents shot to death two soldiers and a policeman — the first killings of British security forces since 1998, the year of Northern Ireland's peace accord.
Police said at least two cars were hijacked in Lurgan's Kilwilkie district, the power base of suspected IRA dissident Colin Duffy. Duffy, 41, was charged last week with murdering the two soldiers.
One of the hijacked cars was abandoned on the M1 motorway, which connects Belfast to Dublin, 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south. Authorities shut part of the motorway as a precaution.
One abandoned vehicle — which police said did not contain a bomb — was left near the Stormont Parliamentary Building, the center of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government between the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority.
The coalition's Protestant leader, First Minister Peter Robinson, said the rising dissident IRA threat would not spur Protestants to sever links with Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party that represents most Catholics today.
"The criminal terrorists responsible for the series of bomb scares and hijackings are beneath contempt and have no support whatsoever in the community," Robinson said.
The hijackings and security alerts also coincided with a widespread breakdown of Belfast's traffic lights system. Police in a statement called that an "unfortunate coincidence."

From Gaza to Sudan, Ban Highlights Crises Confronting Arab World

From Gaza to Sudan, Ban Highlights Crises Confronting Arab World

From The Widening Fallout of The Global Economic Crisis to The Suffering of Victims of Armed Conflict, The Arab World Faces Insecurity Today and The Potential for More Tomorrow, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon <"http://www.Un.Org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.Asp?statid=455">told The Summit of The League of Arab States in Doha Today.
"the Toll in Human Lives and Deferred Development Has Been Tragically High," He Said in His Address to The Gathering. "the Region's Large Groups of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Continue to Live With Their Dignity Under Attack and With Little Ability to Plan for Their Futures."
mr. Ban Said He Remained Gravely Concerned About The Situation is Gaza, Which is Dealing With The Aftermath of The Three-Week Offensive Launched By Israel in Late December 2008.
"the People of Gaza are Suffering, and The Situation At The Crossings is Intolerable," He Stated, Asserting That The Way Forward is a Durable Ceasefire, Open Crossings, and Palestinian Reconciliation.
on Sudan, The Secretary-General Urged The Government Once Again to Reverse Its Decision to Expel Key International Non-Governmental Organizations (ngos), and Suspend The Work of Three National Ngos That Provide Life-Sustaining Services for More Than One Million People.
the Sudanese Government Took That Decision on 4 March, Immediately After The International Criminal Court (<"http://www.Icc-Cpi.Int/menus/icc/home">icc) Issued An Arrest Warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir, Who Was Also Present At Today's Summit in The Qatari Capital.
"despite The Efforts of Sudanese Line Ministries, UN Agencies and The Remaining Ngos, The Gaps Cannot Be Filled With Existing Capacities," Mr. Ban Noted Concerning The Humanitarian Crisis in The Western Darfur Region of The Country. "relief Efforts Should Not Become Politicized. People in Need Must Be Helped Irrespective of Political Differences."
turning to Another Hot-Spot on The Continent, He Said The Present Situation in Somalia Offers a "rare Window of Opportunity," and Urged Immediate Support for The New Government That Was Sworn in Last Month.
"those of US With Influence on The Groups Remaining Outside of The Peace Process Should Call on Them to Join for The Sake of National Reconciliation," Mr. Ban Said, Adding That More Must Also Be Done to Promote Security on The Ground, Including By Supporting The African Union Mission There (<"http://www.Africa-Union.Org/root/au/auc/departments/psc/amisom/amisom.Htm">amisom) and Somali Security Forces At An Upcoming Donor Conference.
the Secretary-General Also Highlighted The Multiple Elections Taking Place This Year in Iraq to Strengthen Democratic Representation, Advance The Political Process and Promote Stability, and Said He Looked Forward to Free and Transparent Polls on 7 June in Lebanon.
while in Doha, Mr. Ban Held Bilateral Talks Today With The Secretary-General of The League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, as Well as With The Secretary-General of The Organization of The Islamic Conference, The Foreign Minister of Norway and The President of The United Arab Emirates.
yesterday, He Held Separate Meetings With The Emir of Qatar and The Presidents of Lebanon, The Palestinian Authority, Somalia and Syria.
tomorrow The Secretary-General Will Open The International Conference on Afghanistan in The Hague, Which Will Assess The Current Political, Security and Development Issues in The South Asian Nation.source: United Nations

URGENT - Stop the killing of kangaroo babies like this.

Target:
Australian Government
Sponsored by:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/feedback/439891577
Here is Australia's Dirty Secret...it is home to the largest wildlife massacre in the world. And Canberra, the nation's capitol, has earned the title, "Kangaroo Killing Capitol of the World". The title is well earned. Last year, the government massacred over 500 kangaroos on a decommissioned military base. They refused all non-lethal solutions, including relocation. This year they plan to kill 5,000 kangaroos including mothers and babies, and they plan to do it in secret because they don't want negative publicity.To learn more: http://www.kangaroolives.com/The government doesn't protect public land from cattle or horse over-grazing; the only solution the government provides is to first blame and then kill the kangaroo. All information presented to the public is confusing, and conflicting. The Australian government has shown no respect to its own national icon, the gentle kangaroo, and is "managing" Australia's native land and animals to death.Sign this petition to tell Australia's government to immediately stop this kangaroo cull, and to actively research and provide alternative solutions. Your signature and comments will be delivered via email to the Australian government.
Here is Australia's Dirty Secret...it is home to the largest wildlife massacre in the world. And Canberra, the nation's capitol, has earned the title, "Kangaroo Killing Capitol of the World". The title is well earned. Last year, the government massacred over 500 kangaroos on a decommissioned military base. They refused all non-lethal solutions, including relocation. This year they plan to kill 5,000 kangaroos including mothers and babies, and they plan to do it in secret because they don't want negative publicity.To learn more: http://www.kangaroolives.com/The government doesn't protect public land from cattle or horse over-grazing; the only solution the government provides is to first blame and then kill the kangaroo. All information presented to the public is confusing, and conflicting. The Australian government has shown no respect to its own national icon, the gentle kangaroo, and is "managing" Australia's native land and animals to death.Sign this petition to tell Australia's government to immediately stop this kangaroo cull, and to actively research and provide alternative solutions. Your signature and comments will be delivered via email to the Australian government.

U.S. deploys anti-missile ships before North Korea launch

POST: 1


SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States deployed a missile-interceptor ship from South Korea on Monday, a military spokesman said, days ahead of a North Korean rocket launch widely seen as a long-range missile test that violates U.N. sanctions.
The launch presents the first significant challenge by the prickly state to U.S. President Barack Obama, who will discuss Pyongyang's intentions with global leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao this week at the G20 summit in London.
The United States, however, has no plans to shoot down the rocket in a test seen by Washington as part of Pyongyang's goal to eventually develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.
"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates said on "Fox News Sunday" when asked if the Pentagon planned to shoot down the missile.
"If we had an aberrant missile, one that looked like it was headed for Hawaii, we might consider it," he said, adding the Pentagon does not believe North Korea can put a warhead on the missile or reach the U.S. West Coast.
U.S. Forces Korea dispatched one Aegis-equipped destroyer on Monday and plans to send another one later in the day from the South Korean port of Busan, a spokesman said without offering further details.
Local media quoted informed sources as saying the vessels with sophisticated radar will monitor the launch, which Pyongyang has said is planned for April 4-8. South Korea also plans to dispatch one of its missile intercepting destroyers closer to the launch date, officials have said.
Japan deployed two missile-intercepting vessels to waters off its west coast at the weekend and another off its Pacific coast.
The North Korean rocket is supposed to drop booster stages to the east and west of Japan. Government officials said Tokyo is poised to shoot down debris that poses a threat to its public.
PEACEFUL PURPOSE OR TEST?
North Korea has installed the completed three-stage rocket on a launch pad at its Musudan-ri missile base on the east coast but it was unclear what was at the top of the rocket, the Institute for Science and International Security said at the weekend based on an analysis of satellite imagery.
North Korea has said the launch is for the peaceful purpose of sending a satellite into orbit, while the United States, South Korea and Japan see it as a disguised test of the Taepodong-2 missile and a violation of U.N. sanctions.
The three have said they want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the launch but analysts see China, a veto-wielding permanent council member and the closest the North has to a major ally, blocking new sanctions and reluctant to call for tighter enforcement of existing ones.
Japan is considering tightening its unilateral sanctions on North Korea, Kyodo news agency reported. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he opposes a military response to the launch.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Lee said he also does not want to punish Pyongyang by ending a joint business park located just north of their heavily militarized border or cutting humanitarian aid because that could hurt separate nuclear disarmament talks and Seoul's goal of peaceful unification.
"For us to go the other way, taking a harder stance, I don't think that would necessarily be helpful in achieving this ultimate objective," Lee said.
In July 2006, the only time the North tested the missile designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska, it exploded just seconds into its flight.
North Korea is expected to start fuelling the rocket this week, starting a process experts said takes three to four days to prepare it for launch. U.S. spy satellites can watch the moves at the Musudan-ri missile base.
Weather forecasts for the area indicate rain on Saturday, the first planned day for the launch, followed by clear skies.
Investors said the impending launch has not cast much of a shadow, for now, over trading this week in Seoul.
"They will worry about that once the rocket is launched," said Kim Joong-hyun, a Goodmorning Shinhan Securities analyst.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun at the weekend said the North may also test-fire a barrage of mid-range ballistic missiles when it shoots off the rocket, as it did in 2006, but experts see that as unlikely because it could undermine Pyongyang's position.
"Such a test would be squarely contradictory to its arguments thus far that the rocket launch is for peaceful space development," said Moon Hong-sik, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.



POST 2:
SKorea opposes military reaction to NKorean launch

SEOUL, South Korea – President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea opposes any military response to North Korea's planned launch of a rocket, while Washington's defense chief said the U.S. won't try to shoot it down.
The remarks by Lee and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appear to reflect concerns that any tough reaction could send tensions spiking out of control at a time when the communist regime is warning that even U.N. sanctions would prompt it to quit nuclear disarmament talks.
North Korea says it will launch a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8 as part of its space development program. Regional powers, however, suspect the North is using the launch to test long-range missile technology.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have warned the North that if it goes ahead with the launch it could face international sanctions under a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting ballistic activity by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang has said sanctions would violate the spirit of agreements in nuclear disarmament talks, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its right to send a satellite into space.
In an interview with the Financial Times published Monday, Lee said all countries, including China and Russia, oppose the North's plans. But Lee stressed that he is against using military means as punishment.
"What I do oppose is to militarily respond to these kind of actions," Lee said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the presidential office.
Lee also ruled out shuttering a joint industrial complex in North Korea — widely seen as a source of hard currency for the impoverished nation — as punishment. He said he does not believe "taking a harder stance" would be helpful in achieving Seoul's ultimate objective of ridding the North of nuclear programs.
In Washington, Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the U.S. has no plans to try to intercept the North Korean rocket but might consider trying if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that."
Still, Gates said the North's launch is a step toward developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead, and "a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile."
Commercial satellite imagery taken Sunday by DigitalGlobe clearly shows what appears to be a three-stage launch vehicle on the launch pad in Musudan-ni on North Korea's east coast, said Tim Brown, an analyst for globalsecurity.org.
However, it remains unclear whether the rocket is a long-range Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile or a space launch vehicle designed to carry a satellite, Brown said.
He noted that the service-level swing arms appear to be rotated away from the launch vehicle.
"The loading of liquid fuel from nearby fuel storage buildings and final check-out procedures could take place in the next few days," Brown said.
On Monday, two U.S. destroyers were to depart from South Korea on a mission believed to monitor the North's rocket launch. The ships are equipped with Aegis radar, a system that enables the vessels to locate, track and shoot down missiles.
U.S. military spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said the ships would depart from the South Korean port of Busan, but declined to give details.
South Korea also plans to dispatch an Aegis-equipped destroyer off the east coast to monitor the launch.
In addition to the long-range rocket, North Korea is preparing to launch a short- or medium-range missile, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.
The Sankei newspaper, citing several unnamed Japanese government sources, said the North is preparing to test-launch another missile from Wonsan, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Musudan-ni. It said U.S., South Korean and Japanese intelligence analyses said the missile could be short or medium range.
The report said the North may conduct another missile test if the U.N. Security Council approves sanctions against it or if it cannot wrest concessions from the United States.
Japan's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the Sankei report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Service — its main spy agency — said they couldn't immediately confirm the report.





Reply:


Is this just all a game NK is playing? They will launch it then will say that future launches can be avoided for more aid, recognition and to bolster their egotistical image of themselves infront of their brainwashed people. NK knows full well that starting a war would be disasterous for them because most of their military hardware is antiquated not to mention that they dont have the resources for a prolonged war.

If the countries around North Korea don’t want to do anything then we need to just leave it alone. Stop spending the tax payer’s dollars on other people’s problems. These guys only have the technology to hurt the countries around them, not us. Also with our missile defense system we could shoot down any missile that would be shot from North Korea. Watch when they piss off the countries that are around them they will be taken care of and we won’t have to lift a finger.

America stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves???? OR do they???? This is why we are watching ( as always pretending to care), to make sure that korean bottle rocket doesn't go nuclear over Japan or some other innocent country!!! Technology just gives us more efficient ways of killing eachother and they call it advances in civilization. What a joke.

Long-delayed Khmer Rouge genocide trial opens

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A former teacher accused of carrying out the murderous policies of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge went on trial Monday, as prosecutors opened their first case against the hard-core communists who turned the country into a killing field three decades ago.
A U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal has charged Kaing Guek Eav, 66, with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as torture and homicide.
The tribunal is seeking to establish responsibility for the group's brutal 1975-79 misrule of the country under Pol Pot, the group's leader who died in 1998. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died of starvation, medical neglect, slave-like working conditions and execution under the Khmer Rouge.
"Cambodians have been waiting 30 years for the Khmer Rouge to be tried for the violence and suffering they inflicted upon the population," said Professor Alex Hinton, director of Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. "That day has arrived."
Cambodian state television and radio were broadcasting Monday's proceedings live, and 70 percent of the country's 14.3 million people were expected to tune in, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said. The verdict at the end of the trial is also expected to be broadcast live.
The defendant stood when asked to identify himself and gave his name as, "Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch," — his nom de guerre (pronounced "Gang Geck Ee-uu" and "Doik"). He then listed other names he used while in hiding after the regime's fall.
Duch ran the Khmer Rogue's main prison, the notorious torture center known as S-21, or Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh. As many as 16,000 men, women and children were brutally tortured there before being sent to their deaths.
According to Duch's lengthy indictment, which was read aloud by court officials, "Every prisoner who arrived at S-21 was destined for execution."
"Interrogators used several forms of torture in order to extract confessions from prisoners," said the indictment, listing the main methods as "beating, electrocution, placing a plastic bag over the head and pouring water into the nose."
Duch has acknowledged there was also a practice of puncturing or removing finger and toenails, it said, and "at least one prisoner was force-fed excrement."
Scores of survivors traveled from around the country to witness the hearing. Among them was Svay Simon, a one-legged, 64-year-old farmer whose limb was blown off by a Khmer Rouge bomb in 1975. He lost 10 relatives, including his sister and brother, to the regime.
"I never thought I would have a chance to see Duch and sit in on this trial," he said, walking with a cane as he entered the courtroom.
Duch holds the distinction of being not only the first member of the Khmer Rouge to face trial for the regime's atrocities, but also the only one to express remorse for his role.
Duch's French lawyer, Francois Roux, said during a procedural hearing that his client wished "to ask forgiveness from the victims, but also from the Cambodian people. He will do so publicly. This is the very least he owes the victims."
Duch disappeared after the group fell from power, living under two other names. He returned to teaching and converted to Christianity before he was discovered by chance by a British journalist in the Cambodian countryside in 1999.
Since then he has been in detention awaiting trial. Technically, Duch's trial opened in February, when the judges ruled on procedural issues such as scheduling and witnesses. But Monday's hearing marks the start of its substantive phase, including the first chance for Duch to publicly tell his story and face the families of victims.
Duch methodically recorded the treatment of each prisoner in thousands of documents that were found in the compound after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in January 1979. One shows Duch's signature on a list of prisoners, with the words "Kill them all."
"It's going to be a painful process but it's a process that we believe will lead to ... a feeling that finally justice is achieved, and it will be worth experiencing this pain," Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis told The Associated Press.
Human rights groups want the number of defendants increased beyond Duch and the four senior Khmer Rouge leaders being held for trial in the next year or so.
Critics of the tribunal also charge that Cambodia's government has sought to limit its scope because other suspects are now loyal to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and to arrest them could be politically awkward.
___
Associated Press

Reply:

"Cambodians have been waiting 30 years for the Khmer Rouge to be tried for the violence and suffering they inflicted upon the population," said Prof. Alex Hinton, director of Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. "That day has arrived."What took so long? Most Cambodians don't even have a Memory of this in their Country..some still deny it even ever happened..Why the UN and War Crimes Tribunal dragged its feey for so long in bringing these criminals to justice..is just another example of how truely ineffective they are..Would it be that China as a Security counsil member had anything to do with the delay?

For Cambodia to have arrived at the point of being able to put anyone responsible on trial for the Communist period of their past is terrific...Lets trust that the current free government will not allow any of those responsible, regardless of their present status, to save themselves from the consequences of the genocide committed upon the Cambodian people in those "killing fields" of the past

N. Ireland police re-arm after killings

BELFAST (AFP) – Police in parts of Northern Ireland have begun wearing flak jackets and carrying rifles for the first time in years following three high-profile killings, they said Sunday.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has returned to arming some of its officers after the fatal shootings of two British soldiers and a police officer within 48 hours of each other in early March.
"Regional commanders will decide where it is appropriate to advise patrols to carry Heckler and Koch rifles," a police spokeswoman said.
One member of a PSNI mobile patrol unit on the Foyle Bridge in Londonderry, an area northwest of the province near the border with the Republic of Ireland, said the practice had become common there.
"All patrols carrying out checkpoints like these in the city of Londonderry have at least one officer armed with a rifle and we are wearing flak jackets," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He added: "After the killings in Masserene (army barracks) and in Lurgan, we were told to start carrying these weapons."
The PSNI spokeswoman confirmed officers have to undergo "specialist training" to use the rifles, explaining: "No officers passing out (qualifying) in the past two years would have been trained in the use of those weapons."
Police are being re-armed only in certain areas, including Lurgan where constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead on March 9.
After the killings, Northern Ireland assembly member Ian Paisley, the son of former first minister Ian Paisley, expressed concern about a shortage of flak jackets for police officers.
"At this time of increased terrorist criminal threat it is vital that our officers feel safe and secure as they serve the community," he said.
Civil strife between the largely Catholic and Protestant communities in the British-ruled province raged for three decades before 1998 peace accords led to power-sharing.
The recent murders were claimed by dissident republicans who reject the peace process and want a united Ireland.
On Saturday, violent clashes also kicked off between rival fans attending a Northern Ireland-Poland football match in Belfast. Four men have been charged with disorderly behaviour in connection with the disturbances. There is a lot of history on the rival "fans" that many don't know about. They are more like gangs then fans. Enough said for now.
(my post on yahoo)

NKorea launch threatens to undo disarmament talks

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's plans to launch a rocket as early as this week in defiance of warnings threatens to undo years of fitful negotiations toward dismantling the regime's nuclear program.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan have told the North that any rocket launch — whether it's a satellite or a long-range missile — would violate a 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from any ballistic activity, and could draw sanctions.
North Korea said sanctions would violate the spirit of disarmament agreements, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its sovereign right to send a satellite into space.
"Even a single word critical of the launch" from the Security Council will be regarded as a "blatant hostile act," a spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday, according the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. "All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken."
That would be a sharp reversal from June 2008 when the North made a promising move toward disarmament, dramatically blowing up a cooling reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
But the regime routinely backtracks on agreements, refuses to abide by international rules and wields its nuclear program like a weapon when it needs to win concessions from Washington or Seoul, analysts say.
"History has shown them that the more provocative they are, the more attention they get. The more attention they get, the more they're offered," Peter M. Beck, a Korean affairs expert who teaches at American University in Washington and Yonsei University in Seoul, said Sunday.
Despite years of negotiations and impoverished North Korea's growing need for outside help, it's clear the talks have done little to curb the regime's drive to build — and sell — its atomic arsenal, experts say.
"If this is Kim Jong Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday."
North Korea, a notoriously secretive country, has been challenging the international community with its atomic ambitions since 1993, when the regime briefly quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid suspicions it was secretly developing atomic weapons.
In 1994, North Korea and the U.S. worked out an agreement that promised Pyongyang oil and two light water nuclear reactors if the country would give up its nuclear ambitions. The power-generating reactors cannot be easily used to make bombs.
Four years later, North Korea fired a multistage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The North pledged in 1999 to freeze long-range missile tests, but later threatened to restart its nuclear program and resume testing missiles amid delays in construction of the reactors.
In 2002, Pyongyang admitted to a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement, prompting the U.S., Japan and South Korea to halt oil supplies promised as part of the pact. The North withdrew again from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, and announced it had reactivated its nuclear power facilities.
That August, six nations — the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. — began negotiations on disarmament now known as the "six-party talks," eventually resulting in a landmark accord on Sept. 19, 2005. The agreement called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for economic aid, diplomatic recognition and a security guarantee from Washington.
As the talks continued in fits and starts, the North in 2006 carried out a surprise 5 a.m. test-fire of six missiles, including its Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which U.S. and South Korean officials believe has the potential to strike Alaska.
The rocket fizzled just 42 seconds after takeoff but the launch, denounced as "provocative" by Washington, angered even North Korea's longtime ally and main donor, China, which agreed to a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Resolution 1695 condemning the move.
Later that year, an underground nuclear test prompted U.N. Resolution 1718, which bans the North from any ballistic activity. The U.S., South Korea and Japan say that sending satellites into space since the technology for launching a satellite and a missile are virtually the same.
By February, Pyongyang agreed to concrete steps toward disarmament: disabling its main nuclear facilities in exchange for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other concessions. Disablement began that November.
But the North halted the process in 2008 amid a dispute with Washington over how to verify its 18,000-page account of past atomic activities. The last round of talks — in December 2008, weeks before President Barack Obama moved into the White House — made little apparent progress.
Analysts speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was holding out for talks with Obama. But in forming its North Korea policy, the fledgling Obama administration has made it clear it will work through the six-party process.
The rocket launch scheduled for April 4-8, at a time when Pyongyang has custody of two American reporters detained March 17 at North Korea's border with China, could provide the opening North Korea needs to force direct talks with Washington, analysts said.
"The timing couldn't be better for North Korea. It strengthens the North's bargaining position with the U.S. in dealing with the nuclear issue. They can try to link these two issues in some way," said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group.
Bringing everyone, including North Korea, back to the talks will be "rough going," said Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank.
But South Korea's envoy expressed confidence the talks would be back on track soon. "I am looking forward to seeing the talks resume after certain amount of time, and I am not deeply worried or concerned about resumption of the talks," Wi Sung-lac said last week.
Ultimately, the talks may never achieve their aim, Beck said.
"It may very well be that in the end, the North will try to play it both ways: continue to negotiate for goodies while never giving up its nuclear trump card," he said in his House testimony. "After all, that is essentially what it has done for the past 16 years."
___
(Associated Press)

Reply:

They have money for missile's but lack money to feed there people, how cruel. Well now Russia, maybe you should wake up before you find yourself sandwiched between two power hungry 3rd world radicals. Not to mention supplying them with fuel for at least a dirty bomb. Good luck Mr. Putin!!!!

"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates told "Fox News Sunday."-ie our administration does not have the balls to stop them.This is not a minor matter, if they sucessfully carry this off, they will have a nuclear program capable of hitting the US with an icbm.

I believe the U.S. should shoot any rocket down as soon as it lifts off the launch pad, even if it is just a satellite. If we don't, then Japan or South Korea should. It is foolish for us to concede anything to that despotic regime. We have conceded too much already and it isn't working, plus it sets a bad example to other regimes we are dealing with in that they now know, if they get far enough with their weapons development....need I say more? We need to draw a line in the sand and take the hard line approach.

Picture: March 29th 09' Black and White picture of missile/rocket area.