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South Korea vs North Korea
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Seoul hantar 500 tan tepung ke Pyongyang
SEOUL 31 Okt. - Seoul menghantar 500 tan metrik tepung ke Pyongyang hari ini bagi membantu masalah kekurangan makanan di Korea Utara ketika negara komunis itu meningkatkan ancaman untuk menyerang Korea Selatan.
Seorang pegawai penyelaras, Kim Ae-kyoung berkata, kapal yang membawa bekalan itu bertolak dari Pelabuhan Incheon ke Pelabuhan Nampo, Korea Utara, pagi ini.
Pyongyang terpaksa bergantung kepada bantuan negara luar terutama Seoul bagi membantu 23 juta rakyatnya sejak lewat 1990-an apabila sekatan dikenakan ke atasnya berhubung isu program nuklear.
Agensi makanan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) baru-baru ini berkata, berjuta-juta rakyat Korea Utara kini menghadapi krisis makanan yang meruncing.
Seoul sebelum ini menjadi penyumbang utama kepada Pyongyang tetapi insiden seorang pelancong Korea Selatan yang ditembak di zon tentera Korea Utara beberapa bulan lalu telah menyebabkan hubungan kedua-dua negara berjiran itu semakin tegang.
nak gado gado... tapi terima lak tepong tuh.... cisss |
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Saturday December 13, 2008
North Korea threatens to slow nuclear disablement
By Yoo Choonsik
FUKUOKA, Japan (Reuters) - North Korea threatened on Saturday to slow down disablement of its main nuclear plant after Washington said energy aid to the reclusive state had been suspended due to failed talks on verifying the North's operations.
| North Korean soldiers look south on the north side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in Paju, about 55 km north of Seoul, December 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)
| Pressure mounted on Pyongyang on Saturday, with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea expressing regret the North had failed to agree to specific steps on verifying its nuclear activities during multilateral talks in Beijing this week.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said all five countries negotiating with North Korea -- Japan, Russia, China, the United States and South Korea -- had agreed that future fuel shipments would not go forward until there was progress on a so-called verification protocol with Pyongyang.
"This is an action-for-action process," McCormack told reporters in Washington. "Future fuel shipments aren't going to move forward absent a verification regime ... they (the North Koreans) understand that."
North Korea's nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan was quoted by Kyodo news agency as telling reporters in Beijing that Pyongyang would "probably adjust the pace of disablement at nuclear facilities if (the aid) is suspended".
North Korea has been in negotiations with the United States over its nuclear arms programme for more than a decade and the issue took on extra urgency after Pyongyang held its first nuclear test explosion in October 2006.
Two months ago, the Bush administration said it was removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, based on Pyongyang's oral commitment to a verification plan.
Experts believe Pyongyang is holding out on a verification protocol until the Obama administration takes over next month.
NORTH "UNCOOPERATIVE"
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak criticised Pyongyang for its "uncooperative attitude" at the talks in Beijing, South Korea's presidential office said in a statement.
Aso and Lee met in southern Japan on Saturday ahead of a rare trilateral summit with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at which the global financial crisis that is battering their economies topped the agenda.
In a trilateral statement at the talks, the three countries said the six-party talks remained an important mechanism for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in North Asia at large.
Aso and Lee also reaffirmed their united stance toward North Korea, with Lee telling a joint news conference that dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programme "will surely and should be achieved in the end," although warning that it may take a long time.
U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill returned to Washington after the failed Beijing talks and briefed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday, said McCormack, adding that Hill would continue trying to get a deal.
"There's the opportunity for North Korea to sign onto this verification protocol," he said. "That still exists. We'll see. The ball is in their court."
Under an agreement last year, up to 1 million tonnes of heavy fuel aid was promised to energy-starved North Korea as a reward for progress on denuclearisation. Countries outside the five-nation group also have volunteered to supply North Korea with energy as a reward.
By mid-November, North Korea had received about half of the amount promised by the five and the United States has provided about 200,000 tons of that, the State Department said.
An unspecified amount of fuel was delivered this month by Russia and will finish being offloaded in North Korea next week, State Department spokesman Robert McInturff told Reuters.
But McCormack said Russia had made clear in this week's talks in Beijing that any future shipments would not be made until North Korea agreed to the verification protocol. |
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