President Obama Speaks at Hankuk University

President Obama speaks to faculty, staff and students of Hankuk University in Seoul about global progress toward nuclear non-proliferation. March 26, 2012.

S.Korea, U.S., China, Russia Urge N.Korea to Scrap Missile Launch

The leaders of South Korea, the U.S., China and Russia in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit on Monday urged North Korea to abandon a planned rocket launch. Japan has also strongly demanded Pyongyang halt what many believe is really a long-range missile test, meaning all participants in six-party talks on the North nuclear program except the North itself are united in wanting the planned launch cancelled. President Lee Myung-bak met consecutively with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, where talks focused on North Korea. Hu and Medvedev also spoke one-on-one with U.S. President Barack Obama, who met Lee a day ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit. In the 45-minute meeting with Lee at Cheong Wa Dae, Hu called the rocket launch plan "undesirable" and added China's leadership is "trying hard to get North Korea to give it up it." China has evidently decided it is diplomatically wiser to adopt close ally Pyongyang's description of the planned launch, which the North says aims to put a satellite into orbit. But Hu's comments suggest that Beijing in principle agrees that the launch is a long-range ballistic missile test and therefore violates UN Security Council Resolution 1874. Medvedev also said in his meeting with Lee that Pyongyang should focus on feeding its people rather than launching any long-range missiles. The united positions of UN Security Council members China, Russia and the U.S. indicate that the North will not be able to avoid UN sanctions if it goes ahead with the launch.

Obama Visits Border with N.Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama visited the heavily armed border with North Korea on Sunday morning amid reports that the North moved a rocket it says will carry a satellite to a launch pad for imminent liftoff. Obama told troops there that they are at "freedom's frontier."

U.S. President Barack Obama looks through binoculars at North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday. /AP-Newsis At a press conference afterwards, Obama said a look at the North Korean side of the border through binoculars from the demilitarized zone is "like you're looking across 50 years into a country that has missed 40 years or 50 years of progress." Obama is the fourth U.S. president to visit the DMZ after Ronald Reagan (1983), Bill Clinton (1993), and George W. Bush (2002).

North Korean missile

Stop Launching Missile!!

NK Media : Kim Jong un directed Yeonpyeong shelling

A North Korean newspaper has confirmed that the North's attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in late 2010 was launched under the orders of the North's current leader Kim Jong-un. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's Workers' Party, carried an editorial on February 16th, the birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The editorial was contributed by a pro-North Korea Indian who goes by the name Vishwanath, who heads the International Institute of the Juche Idea. The piece said that when South Korea prompted a military provocation near Yeonpyeong Island, Kim Jong-un's resourceful strategy and military operation frustrated the enemy's provocation and the island turned into a sea of fire. The paper has also confirmed that during the shelling, the North Korean military also suffered casualties due to South Korea's counterattack. Last April, the paper, in an unusual move, acknowledged damage from the exchange of fire. It described farmers in South Hwanghae Province lending a helping hand to a soldier who was shot to the ground during the Yeonpyeong shelling.

North Korea, in the view of a Cartoonist

Obama likely to visit land border of two Koreas

The White House indicated Tuesday that President Barack Obama will tour the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separates the two Koreas, during his visit to South Korea later this month. "A visit to the DMZ would be reflective of the president's commitment to both security on the Korean Peninsula and the need for North Korea to live up to its international obligations, give up its nuclear weapons program and return to the community of nations," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing. He was reponding to a news report that Obama is expected to visit the DMZ when he travels to the South to attend the second Nuclear Security Summit March 26-27. It would be Obama's third visit to South Korea, a key Asian ally, since his inauguration in 2009. But Carney evaded a question on whether Obama will deliver a key message to North Korea during his possible trip to the DMZ, heavily fortified by the militaries of the two Koreas, still technically at war. Their 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a formal peace treaty. Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited the DMZ while in office.

Rough diplomacy: UN delegates in punch up

South Korean politicians have scuffled with North Korean delegates at a UN meeting on the North's alleged human rights abuses. Several South Koreans tried to grab a North Korean diplomat leaving UN meeting in Switzerland as they chanted slogans against China's policy of repatriating North Korean defectors, footage from Yonhap news agency shot on Monday showed. The South Koreans were pushed away by security and North Korean delegates. The incident came amid reports that China is returning dozens of North Koreans to their communist homeland instead of letting them defect to the South. China sees North Koreans who illegally cross its border as economic migrants, but activists fear the North Koreans are refugees who will face torture and imprisonment if repatriated.

read more : http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/rough-diplomacy-un-delegates-in-punch-up-20120314-1uz25.html#ixzz1p4xFSWed

Lee Myung-bak says Ieodo not territorial dispute

President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that Ieodo, a submerged reef 4.6 meters below sea level south of Jeju Island, is not the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and China. With the remarks, President Lee built up pressure on China to admit the reef belongs to South Korea. In a speech delivered at a forum hosted by the Korea News Editors’ Association, Lee stressed that the nature of the issue was not a territorial dispute. “Should a certain type of dispute occur near the waters off Jeju Island, this will give a serious blow to our economy,” he said. “It is a sensitive issue, but I believe Ieodo will be recognized as being under our sovereignty if the government discusses the matter with China.” He made the remarks amid a possible diplomatic row over Ieodo which erupted after a Chinese official’s remarks in early March. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency on March 3, Liu Cigui, director of China’s State Oceanic Administration, said his agency had launched a monitoring system of surveillance vessels and aircraft for the waters surrounding the reef on which Korea has built an ocean research station. The Chinese official’s remarks caused a stir among South Koreans after a local media reported it Saturday. On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade called in Zhang Xinsen, Chinese ambassador to South Korea, to protest Liu’s remarks. Asking for anonymity, a foreign ministry official told reporters that Seoul delivered an unmistakable message to the Chinese envoy that it can’t accept China’s claims to the reef, maintaining that it is part of South Korea’s territory. South Korea has maintained that Ieodo lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as it sits on the Korean side of the equidistant line and the reef is located on the Korean section of the continental shelf. The dispute emerged again this week following the Chinese government’s claim over the territory back in 2008 on its website. The government demanded China drop the claim, which was later accepted by Beijing. South Korea established the Ieodo Ocean Research Station on the reef with state-of-the-art ocean, weather and environment observation systems that were built to collect and provide information needed for ocean and weather forecasts, fishery forecasts and responses to global environmental challenges on a real-time basis. During the meeting with top editors from major local newspapers and journalists, President Lee also urged China again to stop repatriating North Korean defectors. Lee said this was a human rights issue and about universal values, saying he requested China to deal with the defectors issue in accordance with international norms. China’s repatriation of North Korean defectors has become an international issue as human rights activists and bloggers around the world joined Seoul’s call for Beijing to stop this.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un Officially Visits DMZ

North Korean Young Leader Kim Jong un officially visited the heavily armed border with rival South Korea, Panmunjon village in the DMZ. During his visit, Kim Jong un ordered troops to "maintain the maximum alertness as they are standing in confrontation with the enemies at all times." Furious about posting threatening slogans beneath portraits of Kim Jong Un and his deceased father by a South Korean military unit near Seoul, 150,000 North Koreans, both its citizens and military officials, rallied in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung square, chanting slogans inciting violence against the South Korean president. We believe that the threats are aimed internally as Kim Jong Un bolsters his power among the elite and military as the third generation of his family to lead the country. However, nothing will change in the future. The ROK will likely ignore Kim Jong Un's official Panmunjom visit as it has no storng impact. Moreover, the international voice against North Korea and the wave of revolution within is irreversible.

7th Fleet commandship, USS Blue Ridge visits Korean navy's First fleet

US Navy 7th Fleet's commandship, USS Blue Ridge visited Korean Navy's First Fleet after participating in the ROK-US Combined forces military exercise. USS Blue Ridge soldiers visited the Donghae(East Sea) emphasize the continued cooperation between the US and The ROK. Blue Ridge Soldiers are scheduled to exchange and experience the culture and history of their allied nations, which broadens the sailors' perspectives. In a 4 day schedule, sailors went on sightseeing tours, participated in community service events with their ROK navy partners, built friendships while attending a cultural art performance and participated in a Korean cultural-heritage tour. The US sailors visited Chon'gok cave, Mooreung valley, Jeongdongjin Security Pavillion, Sokcho Cith museum, Sorak Mountain, and participated in community service for the disabled and elderly by providing haircuts, washing clothes, cleaning, and bathing. The Korean soldiers of First Fleet provided "Art Chamber Orchestra, samulnori, Taekwondo demonstration, and fusion variety performances for the Seventh Fleet sailors. The port visit was an unique occasion and opportunity for sailors of both countires to meet each other and build stronger relationships as allies, and confirm the continued cooperation between the US and the ROK.