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NBC NEWS AND NEWS SERVICES
SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 3 — The Pentagon has ordered two dozen Air Force bombers to stand by for possible deployment to Guam as a possible deterrent against any aggressive actions by North Korea, NBC learned Monday. Pyongyang has declared it is ready to fight off any attack by the United States, while Washington insists it has no intention to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.
THE ORDER covers 12 B-1 and 12 B-52 bombers. The bombers will remain at their bases in the United States on a “short string†to deploy to Guam as needed.
An aircraft carrier will also be positioned in the waters off the east coast of Japan to provide further deterrence. But to avoid appearing provocative, the carrier will be stationed some 700 miles from the coast of North Korea.
The moves come amid a standoff over North Korea’s apparent nuclear ambitions, which started in October when a Pyongyang official admitted the country had a secret uranium enrichment program. The United States then cut fuel oil supplies, which were part of a 1994 agreement under which North Korea was to abandon nuclear weapons pursuits. Since then, U.N. nuclear monitors have been kicked out of North Korea, which has made a series of moves suggesting it has restarted efforts to build nuclear weapons.
‘PRUDENT STEP’
U.S. military officials said the orders to put bombers on standby were a “prudent step†to fill in for those U.S. forces from the region that may be deployed to the Persian Gulf for possible war with Iraq.
Pentagon and U.S. military officials stress these orders are intended as a message to the North Koreans: that the United States will not let down its guard in the Pacific if it goes to war with Iraq.
At the same time, Pentagon officials say the carrier is being kept at a distance and the bombers on standby so the United States does not appear overly aggressive and provoke a military response from North Korea.
The officials say there are no plans to take military action against North Korea — and the administration is intent on pursuing a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.
The United States wants to bring the issue before the U.N. Security Council, which could eventually impose economic or political sanctions on the impoverished North. Pyongyang has rejected the move.
In a related development, the U.N. watchdog that oversaw a freeze in the communist state’s nuclear program until it was thrown out in December said it would hold an emergency session Feb. 12 and was likely to ask the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue.
“I’ve exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance,†International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told Reuters in an interview in Vienna.
“That doesn’t mean the Security Council necessarily will have to move to economic sanctions or military action,†he said. “Probably the Security Council will start again by looking for a peaceful resolution.â€
‘FULL COMBAT READINESS’
Despite mounting international pressure, North Korea remains defiant. Pyongyang said Monday that its military and people are fully prepared to counter what it called U.S. plans to invade amid the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
“Our military and people are in full combat readiness to cope with U.S. imperialist warmongers’ indiscriminate military and political moves under their strategy to dominate the Korean Peninsula,†the North’s official Radio Pyongyang quoted a military official as saying.
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“With confidence that we will win, soldiers and people have entrusted their fate and future to (North Korean leader Kim Jong Il), and risen as one,†the unidentified official said during a visit by Kim to a military base. The radio was monitored by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
North Korea’s main communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, also urged the country’s army reservists — estimated by South Korean officials at 1.8 million — to remain alert and unite around “the supreme commander,†Kim Jong Il.
North Korean men are conscripted at age 16 and serve in the country’s regular 1.1 million-member armed forces for seven to 10 years.
Kim has toured several bases in the past week, including some near the heavily fortified border with South Korea.
North Korea accuses the United States of escalating the nuclear standoff as a pretext to invade the communist country. Washington denies it.
The U.S. military says 2,900 soldiers in South Korea may be ordered to extend their stay by six months.
Earlier news reports said Washington had decided to send another aircraft carrier to the region. CBS News also said the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific had asked for about 2,000 more troops, mostly Air Force personnel, to join the 37,000 U.S. troops already in South Korea.
In Honolulu, Hawaii, Navy Cmdr. John Fleming declined to confirm or deny the report, saying it was military policy not to discuss future plans.
SPY SATELLITES DETECT NUCLEAR ACTIVITY
On Friday, U.S. officials said spy satellites detected covered trucks apparently taking on cargo at the North’s main nuclear facility, where spent nuclear fuel rods are stored.
If reprocessed, enough plutonium could be extracted from the 8,000 rods to make four or five nuclear weapons, they said.
Analysts were divided over whether North Korea was trying to reprocess the rods to make bombs or just bluffing to bring the United States to the negotiating table.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/850567.asp?0cv=CB10
SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 3 — The Pentagon has ordered two dozen Air Force bombers to stand by for possible deployment to Guam as a possible deterrent against any aggressive actions by North Korea, NBC learned Monday. Pyongyang has declared it is ready to fight off any attack by the United States, while Washington insists it has no intention to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.
THE ORDER covers 12 B-1 and 12 B-52 bombers. The bombers will remain at their bases in the United States on a “short string†to deploy to Guam as needed.
An aircraft carrier will also be positioned in the waters off the east coast of Japan to provide further deterrence. But to avoid appearing provocative, the carrier will be stationed some 700 miles from the coast of North Korea.
The moves come amid a standoff over North Korea’s apparent nuclear ambitions, which started in October when a Pyongyang official admitted the country had a secret uranium enrichment program. The United States then cut fuel oil supplies, which were part of a 1994 agreement under which North Korea was to abandon nuclear weapons pursuits. Since then, U.N. nuclear monitors have been kicked out of North Korea, which has made a series of moves suggesting it has restarted efforts to build nuclear weapons.
‘PRUDENT STEP’
U.S. military officials said the orders to put bombers on standby were a “prudent step†to fill in for those U.S. forces from the region that may be deployed to the Persian Gulf for possible war with Iraq.
Pentagon and U.S. military officials stress these orders are intended as a message to the North Koreans: that the United States will not let down its guard in the Pacific if it goes to war with Iraq.
At the same time, Pentagon officials say the carrier is being kept at a distance and the bombers on standby so the United States does not appear overly aggressive and provoke a military response from North Korea.
The officials say there are no plans to take military action against North Korea — and the administration is intent on pursuing a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.
The United States wants to bring the issue before the U.N. Security Council, which could eventually impose economic or political sanctions on the impoverished North. Pyongyang has rejected the move.
In a related development, the U.N. watchdog that oversaw a freeze in the communist state’s nuclear program until it was thrown out in December said it would hold an emergency session Feb. 12 and was likely to ask the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue.
“I’ve exhausted all possibilities within my power to bring North Korea into compliance,†International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told Reuters in an interview in Vienna.
“That doesn’t mean the Security Council necessarily will have to move to economic sanctions or military action,†he said. “Probably the Security Council will start again by looking for a peaceful resolution.â€
‘FULL COMBAT READINESS’
Despite mounting international pressure, North Korea remains defiant. Pyongyang said Monday that its military and people are fully prepared to counter what it called U.S. plans to invade amid the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
“Our military and people are in full combat readiness to cope with U.S. imperialist warmongers’ indiscriminate military and political moves under their strategy to dominate the Korean Peninsula,†the North’s official Radio Pyongyang quoted a military official as saying.
Advertisement
“With confidence that we will win, soldiers and people have entrusted their fate and future to (North Korean leader Kim Jong Il), and risen as one,†the unidentified official said during a visit by Kim to a military base. The radio was monitored by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
North Korea’s main communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, also urged the country’s army reservists — estimated by South Korean officials at 1.8 million — to remain alert and unite around “the supreme commander,†Kim Jong Il.
North Korean men are conscripted at age 16 and serve in the country’s regular 1.1 million-member armed forces for seven to 10 years.
Kim has toured several bases in the past week, including some near the heavily fortified border with South Korea.
North Korea accuses the United States of escalating the nuclear standoff as a pretext to invade the communist country. Washington denies it.
The U.S. military says 2,900 soldiers in South Korea may be ordered to extend their stay by six months.
Earlier news reports said Washington had decided to send another aircraft carrier to the region. CBS News also said the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific had asked for about 2,000 more troops, mostly Air Force personnel, to join the 37,000 U.S. troops already in South Korea.
In Honolulu, Hawaii, Navy Cmdr. John Fleming declined to confirm or deny the report, saying it was military policy not to discuss future plans.
SPY SATELLITES DETECT NUCLEAR ACTIVITY
On Friday, U.S. officials said spy satellites detected covered trucks apparently taking on cargo at the North’s main nuclear facility, where spent nuclear fuel rods are stored.
If reprocessed, enough plutonium could be extracted from the 8,000 rods to make four or five nuclear weapons, they said.
Analysts were divided over whether North Korea was trying to reprocess the rods to make bombs or just bluffing to bring the United States to the negotiating table.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/850567.asp?0cv=CB10